Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 321 CMR - DIVISION OF FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE › Title 321 CMR 2.00 - Miscellaneous Regulations › Section 2.15 - Importation, Liberation, and Transportation of Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Definitions
. For the purposes of 321 CMR 2.15 and
			 unless the context requires otherwise, the following words or phrases shall
			 have the following meanings:
Bird
means any bird, wild by nature,
				not otherwise exempted in the list found at
				321 CMR 9.01:
Exemption List
and shall additionally include the nest and
				eggs thereof.
Cervid
(s) means any deer, moose, or
				elk or any other species in the family
Cervidae,
and including
				parts thereof.
Director
means the director of the
				Division of Fisheries and Wildlife or his or her agent.
Division
means the Massachusetts
				Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Environmental Police Officer
means the
				director of the Office of Law Enforcement, deputy directors of enforcement,
				chiefs of enforcement, deputy chiefs of enforcement, environmental police
				officers, and such other enforcement officers of the Office of Law Enforcement
				as may be appointed pursuant to M.G.L. c. 21A, § 10A.
Fish
means any freshwater fish not
				otherwise exempted in the list found at
				321 CMR 9.01:
Exemption List
and shall additionally include the spawn and
				viable eggs thereof.
Permit
means an importation permit, or
				a liberation permit, issued pursuant to M.G.L. c. 131, §§ 19 and 19A,
				and 321 CMR 2.15.
Person
means an individual,
				corporation, partnership, trust, association or other private entity or any
				officer, agent, department or instrumentality of the federal government or any
				state or its political subdivisions, including but not limited to any agency,
				department, board, commission or authority thereof.
Wildlife
means non-domesticated
				amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
(2)
Importation
. No
			 person shall import any live fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, or mammal, or the
			 dead bodies or carcasses or parts thereof, except in accordance with 321 CMR
			 2.15. Except as otherwise provided in 321 CMR 2.15, no fish or wildlife shall
			 be imported to Massachusetts prior to the issuance of an importation
			 permit.
(3)
Exceptions
			 to Importation Requirement
. Notwithstanding the provisions of 321
			 CMR 2.15(2):
(a) a person may import and
			 transport within Massachusetts, but may not liberate, those live fish, fish
			 spawn, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, and parts thereof, which are
			 exempt and may be kept without a permit pursuant to
			 321 CMR 9.01:
Exemption List;
(b) a fur dealer licensed in accordance with
			 M.G.L. c. 131, § 28 may import the skins or pelts of fur-bearing animals,
			 when in compliance with tagging, marking, record-keeping, and other
			 requirements of M.G.L. c. 131,§28;
(c) hunter or trapper licensed under the laws
			 of another state may import the skins or pelts of fur-bearing animals for sale
			 or exchange at a Massachusetts fur auction or to a licensed Massachusetts
			 dealer, provided thats such skins or pelts shall be tagged in accordance with
			 the provisions of M.G.L. c. 131 and 321 CMR, when required;
(d) a Class 6 dealer may import or transport
			 animal parts as provided for in 321 CMR 2.15(8), except as provided in 321 CMR
			 2.15(10).