The Honorable Clayton T. Garrison 

Executive Director 

Parks & Wildlife Department 

John H. Reagan Building 

Austin, Texas 78701 

Dear Mr. Garrison: 

Opinion No. H-285 

Re: In the event that a 

commercial bay or bait 

shrimp boat is transferred 

from one individual or firm 

to another must the license 

stay with the boat of issuance, or would the license be 

cancelled if the boat owner 

should sell his shrimp boat 

to another individual? 

Article 407513, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes, the Texas Shrimp 

Conservation Act, calls for the licensing of shrimp boats. Section 5(a) 

makes it unlawful to use any commercial bay shrimp boat “without the 

owner thereof having first procured a license” and 5 5(c) makes similar 

provision for commercial bait-shrimp boats. 

Your question to us is: 

“In the event that a commercial bay or bait shrimp 

boat is transferred from one individual or firm to 

another, must the license stay with the boat of issuance, or would the license be canceled if the boat 

owner should sell his shrimp boat to another individual?” 

Your question is prompted by two apparently contradictory provisions 

of the Act. In determining the meaning of these statutes and the answer to 

your question, it is necessary that we look to the apparent interest of the 

Legislature in adopting these provisions. 53 Tex. Jur. Zd, Statutes, $125, 

p. 180. One of the cardinal rules of construction is that we look to the statute 

as a whole so as to give effect to the entire act. 53 Tex. Jur. Zd, Statutes, 

$160, p. 229. 

p. 1329 
The Honorable Clayton T. Garrison, page 2 (H-285) 

There are numerous provisions of the statute which weld indicate 

that it is the boat that is to be licensed. Others indicate that it is the 

owner and not the boat. A reading of all these provisions does not make 

the answer to your question clear. The strongest indication that it is the 

owner who is licensed lies in the provision of $5(b) that a Bay Shrimp 

Boat License shall be issued only,to persons who have filed affidavits 

that they will maintain adequate facilities to conduct such business and 

that they intend to derive the major portion of their livelihood from cornmercial shrimp fishery. Surely this is strong evidence that the license 

is personal to the applicant and should not be transferred with a transfer 

of ownership of the boat. 

But, $5 (d) provides : 

. . . Not more than one Commercial Bay Shrimp 

Boat License and not more than one Commercial 

Bait-Shrimp Boat License shall be issued per licensing year for each boat. ” 

This language certainly could be interpreted to provide that the 

license stays with the boat, even ifs ownership is transferred. However, 

in order to reconcile the various provisions of the Act, we construe.§5(d) 

to mean that not more than one License of each type can be issued to one 

owner for one boat and that, if for some violation a license is cancel=, 

no new license may be issued to that owner on that boat during that License 

year. However, a new owner acquiring the boat could be issued a new 

license. 

With this interpretation, it seems to us that the most reasonable 

construction of Article 407513, V. T. C.S . , although surely not the only 

possible one, is that the licenses called for by the Article are personal 

to the owner and should be canceled if the boat is transferred to a new 

owner. 

p. 1330 
The Honorable Clayton T. Garrison, page 3 (H-285) 

SUMMARY 

Commercial bay or bait boat licenses issued 

under the Texas Shrimp Conservation Act are personal to the owners and should be canceled upon a 

transfer of ownership of the boat. 

Very truly yours, 

Attorney General of Texas 

DAVID M. KENDALL, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

p. 1331