Title 49, Conservation and Ecology

(a) The possession of a gill net, trammel net or like contrivance, or any other equipment prohibited for use in the taking or harvesting of seafood under this chapter on a vessel on the marine waters of this state where the use of the net, contrivance or equipment is prohibited, …

(1) The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources is hereby established and full power is vested in the department to manage, control, supervise, enforce and direct any matters pertaining to saltwater aquatic life and marine resources under the jurisdiction of the commission. (2…

(1) The Department of Marine Resources and the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks shall comply with Sections 5-11-1 through 5-11-5 in the transfer of the marine law enforcement division. (2) (a) All personnel actions initiated as a result of the transfer of law enforceme…

(1) In addition to any other powers and duties authorized by law, the department, with the advice of the advisory commission, shall have the following powers and duties regarding the regulation of seafood:(a) To exercise full jurisdiction and authority over all marine aquatic lif…

The department may develop a limited entry fisheries management program for all resource groups. The department may require a license for each resource group and shall establish the fees for such licenses. The department may establish a means test or any other criteria to determi…

(1) (a) All monies received or obtained by the department under the provisions of this chapter shall be paid over by the department to the State Treasurer and shall be deposited into the fund known as the “Seafood Fund.” All revenues collected through the department, to include, …

The executive director of the department shall publish an abstract copy of this chapter and all subsequent amendments to this chapter and all rules and regulations promulgated by the department under this chapter. The department may distribute the publication to all persons reque…

The Attorney General shall be counsel and attorney for the commission and department and shall provide legal services as may be requested. The executive director is authorized to employ legal counsel, after consultation with the Attorney General, as may be necessary or appropriat…

(a) Any fishery management plan, and any regulation promulgated to implement that plan or promulgated under the state seafood laws, shall be consistent with the following standards for fishery conservation and management:(a) Conservation and management measures shall be based upo…

(1) The executive director shall appoint the necessary enforcement officers for the administration of this chapter. The salary of all enforcement officers employed shall be as determined by the State Personnel Board. However, the members of the Enforcement Officers’ Reserve Unit …

Each person employed as a marine patrol officer by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources who retires for superannuation or for reason of disability under the Public Employees’ Retirement System may, upon his request, be allowed to retain, as his personal property, one (1…

(1) (a) The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks are hereby authorized and empowered to establish the dividing line between salt and fresh waters, and when such line has been established and notice thereof given as provide…

The department may appoint an advisory council of persons who may fairly be regarded as representative of all the various segments of the industry. This council shall aid the department in formulating policies and discussing problems related to the administration of this chapter …

(1) The department is hereby granted full and complete authority to lease the bottoms within its jurisdiction upon the following terms and conditions:(1) All areas within the department’s jurisdiction, not designated state-owned reefs by this chapter, including natural reefs and …

(1) Each person buying or handling seafood secured from commercial fishermen, or from other wholesale dealers, for the purpose of resale, whether handling on a commission basis or otherwise, and every resident person shipping seafood out of the State of Mississippi on consignment…

(1) The department shall assess and collect license fees and taxes as authorized under this chapter. (2) All commercial licenses provided for under this chapter that relate to seafood shall be purchased from May 1 through April 30 at the fees provided in this chapter. The license…

(a) As used in this chapter, the term:(a) “Commission” means the Mississippi Advisory Commission on Marine Resources.(b) “Department” means the Department of Marine Resources.(c) “Domicile” means a person’s principal or primary place of abode in which a person’s habitation is fix…

(1) The department may promulgate rules and regulations for nonresident permits in order to promote reciprocal agreements with other states. (2) Except as otherwise provided in Section 49-15-46, the department shall provide that residents of other states bordering on the Gulf of …

(1) The department may construct, maintain and operate all patrol stations, camps and related facilities as may be deemed necessary by the department. (2) If a regulatory agency of a foreign state establishes a station or checkpoint through which Mississippi residents must pass f…

(1) The department shall require all boats used under regulation of this chapter which are also used in waters of other states and required by those states to pay licenses or fees for the same purposes as licenses and fees are required under this chapter to purchase a license whi…

Upon the request of the boards of supervisors of the respective coastal counties, the department may adopt ordinances prohibiting the taking and catching of menhaden within certain limits of the coast line of the county so requesting, but the department shall not fix such limits …

(1) The Department of Marine Resources shall have full jurisdiction and control of all designated state-owned reefs and oyster bottoms of the State of Mississippi. The department may lease up to eighty percent (80%) of the permitted areas available. Permitted areas not subject to…

The department may employ boats, crews and laborers to cultivate the state-owned reefs of the state, and dredge the oysters in the Mississippi Sound from places where they are too thick, and spread them on reefs where they are too thin, and carry shells from the factories and spr…

(1) (a) Unless otherwise permitted by the department, no oysters shall be taken from state-owned reefs unless culled, and all oysters less than three (3) inches from end to end, and all dead shells, shall be replaced, scattered and broadcast immediately on the reefs from which th…

The department may support projects in the nature of digging or constructing canals or ditches to bring additional water to existing oyster reefs or beds in need of that water, or for the purpose of creating or establishing new oyster reefs or beds. The department may also enter …

It shall be unlawful for any person to fish, catch or take oysters from the waters of Mississippi during the hours between sunset and sunrise of each day. Violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or imprisonment not t…

(1) All oysters caught in Mississippi territorial waters shall be tagged and unloaded in Mississippi. Before tagging and unloading, the oysters must be sacked or packaged in containers or by other methods approved by the department. However, a person is exempt from the unloading …

Oysters for sale either wholesale or retail may be packaged in glass jars covered with a screw-type top or lid of the type customarily and heretofore used in the seafood industry in the State of Mississippi, but this section shall automatically be repealed if and when such type p…

The department shall prohibit the sale or possession of illegal oysters. It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to possess or to engage in the sale of oysters not certified in this state, or to shuck or repack for sale any illegal oysters, unless that person, firm or …

Any municipality bounded by the Gulf of Mexico or Mississippi Sound, which has wholly or partly within its corporate limits, or in the waters adjacent thereto, a public oyster reef reserved for catching oysters exclusively by use of hand tongs, is hereby authorized to aid and coo…

(1) Each vessel used to catch, take, carry or transport oysters from the reefs of the State of Mississippi, or engaged in transporting any oysters in any of the waters within the territorial jurisdiction of the State of Mississippi, for commercial use, shall annually, before begi…

(1) It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to discharge solid or human waste from any vessel while the vessel is used to harvest or transport oysters in the marine waters of the state. (2) Each vessel used to harvest or transport oysters is required to have an approve…

The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources’ oyster check station located at the Pass Christian Harbor, Pass Christian, Mississippi, shall be named the Colonel George J. Wright, Sr., building. The Department of Finance and Administration shall prepare or have prepared a distin…

All seafoods existing or living in waters within the territorial jurisdiction of the State of Mississippi not held in private ownership legally acquired, and all beds and bottoms of rivers, streams, bayous, lagoons, lakes, bays, sounds and inlets bordering on or connecting with t…

The governing body of any municipality or county on the Mississippi Sound having located therein a United States Department of Interior and wild life service facility are hereby authorized either severally or jointly to contribute to the cost of the construction and erection of a…

(1) (a) Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this chapter or any ordinance duly adopted by the department, unless otherwise specifically provided for herein, shall, on conviction, be fined not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), nor more than Fi…

Any operator, firm or corporation engaged in commercial shrimping during the closed season shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) nor more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00). Upon an…

(1) The shrimp season shall open on the first Wednesday of June. The shrimp season shall be closed from January 1 until it is opened the first Wednesday of June, except south of the Intracoastal Waterway. The shrimp season shall be closed south of the Intracoastal Waterway and we…

Any person shall be allowed to take shrimp in the bays located within and surrounding the cities of Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Gautier, Ocean Springs and Pascagoula with a cast net, but shall not take more than fifty (50) pounds of shrimp per person per day for personal consumption. …

(1) It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to take, catch or have in their possession within territorial waters of the State of Mississippi shrimp of a size weighing in the raw state less than one (1) pound to each sixty-eight (68) shrimp, except as provided under Sec…

(1) Each live bait catcher boat engaged in taking live bait shrimp shall pay an annual privilege tax of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) for each boat engaged in those operations. The operations shall not exceed two (2) boats per license. (2) Each “live bait dealer” engaging in sell…

(1) (a) Each freight boat, ice boat and catching boat used in catching or transporting saltwater shrimp taken from the waters of the State of Mississippi for sale in their fresh state, or for canning, packing, freezing or drying, shall first obtain from the commission an annual p…

The justice courts of the respective counties or county courts shall have original jurisdiction of any prosecution or suit brought under authority of this chapter, or of any violation of any ordinance duly enacted by the commission. However, from each decision or judgment, whethe…

(1) (a) Any party may file an appeal from the decision of the commission with the Chancery Court of Harrison County, Second Judicial District. The appeal shall be filed within thirty (30) days of the decision of the commission. An appeal to the chancery court shall not stay the e…

(1) Any resident citizen of the State of Mississippi (a) who is not over sixteen (16) years of age; or (b) who is sixty-five (65) years of age or more; or (c) who has been adjudged to have a service-connected one hundred percent (100%) disability, shall not be required to purchas…

All shells of dead oysters, clams and other shellfish; and all of the oyster shells, clam shells, mussel shells, dead reef shells, and cay shells, being upon or under the bottom of, or under the tidewaters within the territorial jurisdiction of the State of Mississippi, and all b…