Massachusetts Statutes

Section 74. The division of marine fisheries shall examine from time to time as conditions may require, or upon request of the commissioner of public health, the mayor or city manager of a city, or the selectmen or town manager of a town, the coastal waters and flats of the commo…

Section 74A. Both the department of public health and the division of marine fisheries shall have the authority immediately to designate shellfish areas as contaminated and that shellfish obtained therefrom are unfit for food and dangerous to the public health, in the event of an…

Section 75. The director may grant, and may revoke, written permits for the digging or taking of shellfish from an area determined under section seventy-four or corresponding provisions of earlier laws to be contaminated while such determination is in force, every such permit to …

Section 76. The director of the division of marine fisheries may construct and operate shellfish purification plants for the treatment of shellfish taken from areas determined under section seventy-four or any corresponding provisions of earlier laws, to be contaminated, and may …

Section 77. For the purpose of partially defraying the costs of the operation and maintenance of shellfish purification plants, the division of marine fisheries shall charge the users of said service an amount which shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administrati…

Section 80. Except as permitted in sections thirty-eight and seventy-five, no person shall fish for or take fish for commercial purposes in the coastal waters, or land raw fish, whether frozen or unfrozen, in the commonwealth, for the purpose of sale unless he is the holder of a …

Section 81. No person shall transport, or cause to be transported, into this commonwealth for consumption as food any shellfish taken or dug from areas outside the commonwealth, or sell, cause to be sold, or keep, offer or expose for sale for consumption as aforesaid any shellfis…

Section 82. No wholesale or retail dealer in shellfish, and no person holding a victualler's license, shall receive any shellfish unless the same bears a label or tag legibly marked with the source of supply, the date when taken, and either the certificate or permit number or the…

Section 83. For the purposes of defraying the costs of the division's research, management and other activities including administrative and operating expenses, and the cost of issuing the following resident and nonresident permits and any inspections relative thereto, resident a…

Section 8A. In a city or town bordering on coastal waters, a police officer employed on a full time, provisional or reserve basis shall, for the enforcement of sections thirty-one, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-eight A, thirty-nine, forty-one, forty-one A, forty-three and fo…

Section 9. The director, the deputy directors of enforcement, chiefs of enforcement, deputy chiefs of enforcement and all environmental police officers and deputy environmental police officers or a member of the state police may, without a warrant, search any boat, vessel, fish c…

Section 92. No person shall sell, exchange, transport or deliver and no person shall offer or expose for sale, exchange or delivery or have in their custody or possession with intent to sell, exchange, transport or deliver any scallops or sea scallops which have been soaked and s…

Section 93. A town may open ditches, sluiceways or canals into any pond within its limits not then in private possession for the introduction and propagation in such pond or in any part thereof of herring, alewives or other swimming marine food fish, and for the creation of fishe…

Section 94. The board of aldermen or the city council of any city wherein there is a public fishery for alewives, or the selectmen of a town, wherein there is such a fishery, if so authorized by their town, may petition the director for the right to control and regulate such fish…

Section 95. No person shall take, kill, haul onshore, disturb, injure, hinder or obstruct the passage of any herring, alewives or other swimming marine food fish in a fishery created by a city or town, without the permission thereof or that of its lessees, in a fishery legally es…

Section 96. Sections ninety-three, ninety-four and ninety-five shall not impair the private rights of any person under any law passed before April twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, or under any contract existing on said date, or authorize a town to enter upon or build…

Section 98. In each city and town bordering on coastal waters the mayor or the selectmen, as the case may be, shall appoint a person or persons, qualified by training and experience in the field of shellfishery management, as shellfish constables or deputy shellfish constables. A…

Section 1. In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings and the following rules of construction shall apply:— ''Angling'', fishing with hand line or rod, with a hook baited with natural or artificial bait. ''Assista…

Section 10. Whenever such wildlife sanctuary has been established by an order as provided in section nine, no person, except as authorized by the director under clause (2) of section four, shall hunt, trap or take any bird or mammal within said sanctuary, nor shall any person ent…

Section 10A. The executive office of environmental affairs, the department or any other division of the department within said executive office may designate as qualifying as a nature preserve any real property owned by the commonwealth and under the care and control of said depa…

Section 10B. A nature preserve council, hereinafter referred to as the council, shall be established and shall consist of seven members who shall be appointed by the secretary of the executive office of environmental affairs, four of whom shall be members of the natural heritage …

Section 10C. A nature preserve established pursuant to section ten A shall be released in a manner consistent with the provisions of the constitution of the commonwealth. The division shall, in consultation with any other department or division within the executive office of envi…

Section 10D. The division shall consult with the nature preserve council in implementing and effectuating the nature preserve program established pursuant to sections ten A to ten C, inclusive. The division shall promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate said nature preserve…

Section 11. A person shall not fish in any inland waters of the commonwealth, unless he is a minor under fifteen years of age, nor hunt or trap any bird or mammal except as otherwise provided in sections four, fourteen, fifteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-three and thirty-seven w…

Section 12. Upon the application of any person entitled to receive a sporting, hunting, fishing or trapping license and upon payment of the fee specified therefor in this chapter, and the furnishing of an affidavit by any non-resident desiring to be classified under the first par…

Section 13. Nothing in section four or sections eleven to sixteen, inclusive, shall be construed as affecting in any way the general laws relating to trespass, or as authorizing the hunting or the possession of birds or mammals contrary to law, or the taking of fish or the posses…

Section 13A. Except as hereinafter provided, no person shall fish, trap, or hunt in the commonwealth without first having obtained a wildlands conservation stamp, which shall be issued by the director or his duly authorized agent upon the payment of five dollars; provided, howeve…

Section 14. It shall be unlawful for any resident or non-resident to hunt for any bird or mammal in the commonwealth unless such person has successfully completed a hunter education course as prescribed by this section, or unless such person has held a license so to hunt, before …

Section 15. An executive or administrative public official of any state granting similar privileges to such an officer of this commonwealth may hunt any bird or mammal or may fish in any of the inland waters of the commonwealth if he holds a special complimentary certificate enti…

Section 16. Whoever loses or by mistake or accident destroys his license, permit, or certificate issued under this chapter may, upon application to the director, clerk of the city or town or any person duly authorized under the provisions of section twelve issuing the same, and u…

Section 17. Any city or town clerk or any person duly authorized by the director to issue licenses at their place of business located outside the commonwealth, provided such persons are duly bonded, issuing any license under authority of any provision of this chapter may, except …

Section 17A. Any city or town clerk issuing any license under the authority of any provision of this chapter shall, except as otherwise provided by law, charge a municipal processing fee of one dollar, and where applicable retain such fee; provided, however, that such fee shall b…

Section 17B. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law, or rule or regulation to the contrary, no city or town clerk shall be required to sell the licenses established under this chapter. Each city or town clerk shall, on or after July first of each year, give …

Section 18. The director, each city or town clerk and each person duly authorized under the provisions of section twelve shall make a record in books kept therefor of all licenses issued by him, respectively, and shall indicate on each license the date and time of issue; and, exc…

Section 19. A person shall not put into any of the inland waters of the commonwealth any species of fish or spawn thereof unless he possesses a valid license so to do issued under section twenty-three, or unless he has secured the written approval of the director. A person shall …

Section 19A. A person shall not bring or cause to be brought into the commonwealth any live bird or mammal protected by this chapter, or any member of the family sciuridae of the order rodentia or any member of the order lagomorpha or any other member of the group vertebrata, wil…

Section 19B. Any person authorized under section 4 to take and possess mammals may transport them within the commonwealth for the purpose of euthanasia. A person authorized under this chapter to take and possess birds, reptiles, amphibians or mammals shall not put an animal to de…

Section 19C. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise: ''Covered animal'', any of the following animals or hybrids thereof: (i) elephantidae; (ii) lions (panthera leo), tigers (panthera tigris…

Section 1A. The division of fisheries and wildlife shall be within the department of fisheries, wildlife and environmental law enforcement in the executive office of environmental affairs and shall be under the supervision and control of the fisheries and wildlife board, hereinaf…

Section 1B. Board members may be removed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, after due notice and a hearing before the governor, for inefficiency, neglect of duty, misconduct in office or other cause. A copy of the charge against a board member shall be d…

Section 1C. No board member shall hold any other position in the department of fisheries, wildlife and environmental law enforcement while serving as such, nor for a period of one year thereafter.

Section 1D. The board members shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to be reimbursed out of any funds available for the purpose, for their actual traveling and other expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their official duties, but such reimbursemen…

Section 1E. The members of the board shall meet in the commonwealth, within thirty days after their appointment, and once a month thereafter at such times and places in the commonwealth as they may from time to time determine. They shall at least annually choose a chairman and a …

Section 1F. The director of the division of fisheries and wildlife shall be appointed and may be removed by the board of the division of fisheries and wildlife and the position of director shall not be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one. The director, subject to the …

Section 1G. The director shall, under the control of the board, have charge of, direct and supervise all matters relative to the division and the employees therein. He shall carry out the policies promulgated from time to time by the board, shall prepare the annual budget of the …

Section 1H. There shall be in the division of fisheries and wildlife, under the control of a director, a bureau of wildlife research and management headed by a superintendent, who shall not be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one and who shall be appointed by the direc…