Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 49 - CONSERVATION AND ECOLOGY (§§ 49-NEW-001 — 49-39-7) › Chapter 15 - SEAFOOD (§§ 49-15-1 — 49-15-417) › Article 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 49-15-1 — 49-15-100.3) › Section 49-15-37 - Cultivation of state-owned oyster reefs; removal of oysters from restricted areas

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 spread them in places where the oyster beds can be improved and enlarged. The department may open state-owned reefs to the public for harvest. The department may purchase other materials as may be equally suitable for the propagation of oysters. The department in cultivating the reefs, transplanting and spreading oysters and shells and other suitable materials, may expend any funds available for that purpose, as provided by Section
49-15-17(1)(e)
. In taking seed oysters, care shall be used to not injure or destroy the merchantable oysters on the reefs from which they are taken. The seed oysters shall be tonged from the "conner" or seed reefs, unless it is practicable and safe to dredge those oysters. The department may establish new bedding grounds at those places within the boundaries of the state as it may determine, on advice of the director, or on advice of technical governmental experts, or competent aquatic biologists. On existing state-owned reefs in which oysters exist and in waters not of a safe sanitary quality as determined by the department, the department shall prohibit any person, firm or corporation from taking oysters from those areas. The department shall from time to time remove the oysters from the areas and relay or replant them in an approved area for a period of time under Section
49-15-36
before they may be harvested. Any funds received from the sale of the oysters shall be used in a like manner as those funds received under Section 49-15-17(1)(e).
The department may issue permits to persons to remove oysters by dredging or otherwise from water bottoms which are not of a safe sanitary quality for oysters for human consumption. These areas may be designated as seed grounds, and permits to persons shall be issued only for the purpose of transplanting oysters to privately leased Mississippi territorial waters. The department may permit the transplanting of these seed oysters by a duly authorized public agency.
The department may, upon determining the water bottom from which oysters are to be removed is not of a safe, sanitary quality for oyster production for human consumption and has been unsafe for a period of at least one (1) year immediately preceding certification, and upon complying with the following requirements, permit the dredging of oysters from restricted public areas and relaying the oysters to private leased grounds in the State of Mississippi:
(a)
Permittee must hold valid lease of oyster bedding grounds in the State of Mississippi;
(b)
Permittee must be bonded in compliance with the permit system established by the department;
(c)
Permittee must fulfill all permit requirements as established by the department;
(d)
Permittee shall not move oysters from one restricted area to another restricted area;
(e)
Permittee shall move oysters only to an area leased by the department; and
(f)
Permittee shall not move oysters from the restricted area without the presence of an employee of the department at all times, from the dredging of the oysters from the restricted areas to their deposit on private leased grounds or to an onshore, molluscan depuration facility.
Harvesting of oysters shall be permitted only during daylight hours and with the most efficient gear possible consistent with conservation requirements of not damaging the reefs. This shall include permission to use two (2) dredges per boat on restricted areas and on private leased grounds.
Any person obtaining a permit to remove oysters from seed grounds shall post a penal bond of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per leased acre with the department to be forfeited upon any violation of this section. The bond may be approved by the director of the department if the director finds the bond to be secured by sufficient property or sureties.
The department shall regulate the amount and time of taking of oysters from seed areas and shall supervise the removal, planting and harvesting of oysters from the areas. The time set for the taking of oysters from restricted seed areas for relaying or replanting and the time set for the taking of oysters from private leased grounds shall be separated by not less than a period of time determined under Section
49-15-36
during which neither activity may be allowed.
Codes, 1906, § 3505; Hemingway's 1917, § 6147; 1930, § 6874; 1942, § 6072; Laws, 1902, ch. 58; Laws, 1948, ch. 474, §§ 1, 2; Laws, 1958, ch. 195, § 37; Laws, 1974, ch. 572, § 8; Laws, 1977, ch. 463, § 3; Laws, 1980, ch. 429; Laws, 1987, ch. 521, § 2; Laws, 1988, ch. 395, § 3; Laws, 1997, ch. 399, § 3; Laws, 1997, ch. 579, § 22; Laws, 2004, ch. 325, § 1; Laws, 2005, ch. 381, § 1; Laws, 2006, ch. 307, § 2, eff. 2/14/2006.
Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. 530, SB 2648,§ 3, eff. 5/13/2024.
Amended by Laws, 2023, ch. 496, SB 2544,§ 16, eff. 4/17/2023.