Bill Text: MS HB817 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Sportsfishing; authorize the taking of fish by certain means if used for bait.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-23 - Died In Committee [HB817 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2016-HB817-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks
By: Representative Hopkins
House Bill 817
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 49-7-81, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE CERTAIN FISH TO BE TAKEN BY CERTAIN MEANS FOR PERSONAL USE AS BAIT BY RESIDENTS; TO PROVIDE THAT A SINGLE FISH TRAP MAY BE OPERATED BY A RESIDENT FOR NINETY-SIX HOURS; TO AMEND SECTION 49-7-83, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE TAKING OF GAME FISH USING MEANS USED FOR THE TAKING OF NONGAME FISH IF THE FISH IS INTENDED TO BE USED AS BAIT FOR SPORTFISHING BY A RESIDENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 49-7-81, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
49-7-81. (1) It is
unlawful to take or kill game fish in any manner other than by hook and line
with one or more hooks, or by use of a trot or troll line. Dip or landing nets
may be used when landing a fish caught by hook and line, trot or troll lines. * * * Minnows, fish and
crustaceans, not otherwise protected, regulated or prohibited by species,
season or size, may only be taken for personal use as bait with the aid of a
dip or landing net, cast nets, boat-mounted scoops, wire baskets and fish traps
by residents. A single fish trap may be operated within a body of water for an
interval not to exceed ninety-six (96) hours, if such trap is legibly labeled
with the name and phone number or address of a resident, and tethered to a
flotation device capable of supporting the weight of the trap. However, in
private ponds or borrow pits or overflow ponds which go dry in summer and cut
off from the regular streams, dip nets may be used for capturing or rescuing
game fish. It is unlawful to kill or take fish of any species at any time or
anywhere by mudding, or by the use of lime, poison, dynamite, India berries,
weeds and walnuts, giant powder, gunpowder, or any other explosive, and no
nongame gross fish shall be taken by the use of nets, seines or traps for
personal use without a commercial fishing license. It is unlawful to set any
freshwater commercial fishing equipment so that it extends more than halfway
across the width of any stream, channel, drain or other body of water, and if
commercial fishing equipment is placed in water, each piece of equipment shall
be placed at least one hundred (100) yards apart. The commission shall have
the authority to fix the minimum size mesh for use in barrel nets, hoop nets
and seines for use in the freshwaters of this state regulated by the Commission
on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. This authority given the commission shall
not be extended to the regulation of mesh size for use in marine waters.
Notwithstanding anything in this or any other section to the contrary, any
person in Mississippi fishing with barrel nets, hoop nets or seines in any
waters of common boundary between Mississippi and another state may use a mesh
size in such nets which is the same as the mesh size allowed in the other
state, where the other state allows a mesh size in such nets which is smaller
than the mesh size otherwise allowable in Mississippi.
(2) It is unlawful for any person to catch or destroy fish by the use of dynamite, gunpowder or other explosive substance.
(3) It is unlawful for any person to use a telephone, battery or any other electrically operated device for the purpose of killing or capturing fish.
(4) It is unlawful for any person to use any chemical of any kind in any stream or any lake where the public fishes for the purpose of killing or taking fish, except that this provision shall not be construed to apply to any owner of any fish pond using such chemical in his own private pond.
(5) It is unlawful for any person to poison any fish by mingling in the water any substance calculated and intended to stupefy or destroy fish.
(6) It is unlawful for any person to fish any equipment in the waters of the state of any size or type that is not allowed by the commission.
(7) Any hoop net, barrel net, seine, gill net, slat baskets, trammel net or untagged commercial fishing gear or devices being fished in public waters may be seized and held as evidence and shall be subject to forfeiture.
(8) Any person violating the provisions of subsections (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of this section is guilty of a Class I violation and, upon conviction, shall be punished as provided in Section 49-7-141.
SECTION 2. Section 49-7-83, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
49-7-83. It shall be unlawful for any person to fail to return to the water, immediately, any game fish taken by net or seines or other contrivances used for the taking of fish not classified as game fish which are not intended for personal use by a resident as bait for sportfishing.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.
