2023 Texas Statutes › Parks and Wildlife Code › Title 5 - Wildlife and Plant Conservation › Subtitle B - Hunting and Fishing › Chapter 66 - Fish and Aquatic Plants › Subchapter A. Provisions Applicable to Freshwater and Saltwater Fishing and Aquatic Plants › Section 66.020. Sale and Purchase of Protected Fish

Sec. 66.020.  SALE AND PURCHASE OF PROTECTED FISH.  (a)  It is unlawful for any person to buy or offer to buy, sell or offer to sell, possess for the purpose of sale, transport or ship for the purpose of sale, barter, or exchange bass of the genus Micropterus, blue marlin, crappie, flathead catfish, jewfish, longbill spearfish, muskellunge, northern pike, red drum, sailfish, sauger, snook, spotted sea trout, striped bass, tarpon, walleye, white bass, white marlin, yellow bass, or hybrids of any of those fish.
(b)  This section applies to the possession, transportation, sale, or purchase of any fish described by Subsection (a) without regard to where the fish was taken, caught, or raised, but does not apply to:
(1)  the transportation or possession of fish taken, caught, or raised outside this state and transported by common carrier without being unloaded from outside this state to a point of delivery outside this state;
(2)  fish raised by being continuously fed a prepared feed and sold by an operator of a Texas commercial aquaculture facility, as defined by Section 134.001, Agriculture Code;
(3)  the sale of fish described by Subdivision (2) by:
(A)  a licensed wholesale fish dealer;
(B)  a licensed retail fish dealer; or
(C)  a restaurant;
(4)  bass of the genus Micropterus and crappie if the fish are:
(A)  reared in private water; and
(B)  sold by an operator of a Texas commercial aquaculture facility for the purpose of stocking:
(i)  water of the state under a permit required under Section 66.015(b); or
(ii)  private water with the documentation required under Section 134.018, Agriculture Code; or
(5)  the lawful importation by the holder of a Texas finfish import license into this state from another state or foreign country or the exclusive economic zone of farm-raised red drum, bass of the genus Micropterus, crappie, flathead catfish, striped bass, white bass, or a hybrid of any of those fish that have been continuously fed a prepared feed as a primary food source or lawfully taken, caught, or raised blue marlin, jewfish, longbill spearfish, muskellunge, northern pike, sailfish, sauger, snook, spotted sea trout, tarpon, walleye, white marlin, yellow bass, or a hybrid of any of those fish, if the fish are tagged, invoiced, packaged, and labeled under regulations of the commission and if the license holder complies with any requirements the commission may establish by proclamation that the fish enter the stream of commerce for sale in this state in a condition allowing ready identification of the species, including a requirement that the fish come into the state with the head and tail intact and tagged and a requirement that an invoice accompany all imported fish regulated by this section through each sales transaction, including transactions at the place of the final sale to the consumer.
(c)  Notwithstanding Subsection (b)(5), the commission may allow subsequent sale of lawfully imported fish without the head and tail intact and without a tag if the fish are labeled in a manner prescribed by the commission and the tag when removed is destroyed. A tag, if required, must be of a type prescribed by the commission and shall be sold to an applicant at a cost as determined by the commission that is reasonable to defray the administrative costs incurred in connection with the tag requirement.
(d)  It is unlawful for any person to receive directly from another state or foreign country, import, transport, or sell bass of the genus Micropterus, blue marlin, crappie, flathead catfish, jewfish, longbill spearfish, muskellunge, northern pike, red drum, sailfish, sauger, snook, spotted sea trout, striped bass, tarpon, walleye, white bass, white marlin, yellow bass, or a hybrid of any of those fish unless the person holds a Texas finfish import license issued by the department.
(e)  The fee for a Texas finfish import license is $50 or an amount set by the commission, whichever amount is more.
(f)  The commission by proclamation may require fish imported under this section to be tagged, packaged, and labeled and to be accompanied by an invoice.  The department may provide a prenumbered invoice to a person importing any of the fish described by Subsection (a) of this section into this state from another state or foreign country and may charge a fee for the invoice in an amount determined by the commission that is reasonable to defray the administrative costs incurred under this subsection.  The invoice shall be used to report shipments of any of the fish described by Subsection (a) of this section.  A person who receives invoices under this subsection must account to the department for all invoices received as required by rules adopted by the commission.  A person commits an offense if the person fails or refuses to account for an invoice as required by commission rules.
(g)  It is unlawful for a person to sell or offer to sell any imported fish described by Subsection (a) of this section unless it is tagged, packaged, invoiced, and labeled for identification as provided by this section.
(h)  A person may purchase at any season of the year fish described by Subsection (a) as provided by this section.
(i)  A person possessing more than three times the possession limit, as provided by this code or by a proclamation of the commission under this code, of fish described by Subsection (a) of this section without lawful documentation commits an offense.  An offense under this subsection is a Class A Parks and Wildlife Code misdemeanor.
(j)  In this chapter the names of fishes are those prescribed by the American Fisheries Society in the most recent edition of "A List of Common and Scientific Names of Fishes of the United States and Canada."
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 723, Sec. 13, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 859, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1995;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1239, Sec. 8, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
Amended by:
Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 848 (S.B. 703), Sec. 54, eff. September 1, 2021.
Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 129 (H.B. 1333), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2023.