Texas Administrative Code › Title 31 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION › Part 2 - TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT › Chapter 57 - FISHERIES › Subchapter N - STATEWIDE RECREATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL FISHING PROCLAMATION › Division 4 - SPECIAL PROVISIONS TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF EXOTIC AQUATIC SPECIES › Section 57.1001 - Draining of Water from Vessels Leaving or Approaching Public Fresh Water

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
For the purposes of this section, "vessel" has the
						meaning assigned by Parks and Wildlife Code, § 31.003, and "boat ramp"
						means a boat ramp, launch area, or any other access point that can be used to
						access public water, and includes parking areas, parking overflow areas, and
						any other area in the immediate vicinity of the ramp, launch, or access point
						where a vehicle, trailer, or vessel may be parked while waiting to launch or
						retrieve a vessel.
(1) General
					 Provisions. Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this section, no person may
					 use any public roadway other than a boat ramp to transport a vessel to or from
					 a public water body to which the provisions of paragraph (3) of this section
					 apply unless all bilges, live wells, and other similar receptacles and systems
					 holding or capable of holding water on board the vessel as a result of
					 immersion in or transfer from the public water body have been
					 drained.
(2) Exceptions.
(A) The provisions of paragraph (1) of this
					 section do not apply to:
(i) a person
					 travelling on a public roadway via the most direct route to another access
					 point located on the same body of water, provided the beginning and ending of
					 the travel occur within a single 24-hour period;
(ii) water contained in marine sanitary
					 systems;
(iii) a person in
					 possession of a receptacle containing water and live bait purchased from a
					 commercial bait dealer, provided:
(I) the
					 person also possesses a dated receipt, bill of sale, or other written evidence
					 that identifies the name and commercial location of the dealer; and
(II) the live bait, if it has come into
					 contact with public water to which the provisions of paragraph (3) of this
					 section apply, is used only on the water body from which the public water was
					 obtained;
(iv)
					 government employees or persons under contract to a governmental entity in the
					 performance of official duties that involve the use of a vessel in an emergency
					 response to a threat to human health or safety, or property; or
(v) a person who is a participant in a
					 fishing tournament (as defined by Parks and Wildlife Code, § 66.023),
					 provided:
(I) the tournament fishing
					 activities are restricted to a single public water body on any given
					 day;
(II) the weigh-in site is not
					 located on the body of water on which the tournament is held;
(III) all water other than water in a live
					 well has been drained from the vessel as required by this section;
(IV) the live well is being transported by
					 the most direct route to an official weigh-in location designated by the
					 tournament;
(V) the water in the
					 live well is drained or properly disposed of before the vessel leaves the
					 weigh-in location; and
(VI) the
					 person in possession of the water in the live well also possesses documentation
					 provided by a fishing tournament representative that bears the participant's
					 name, the date, water body name, tournament name, location and time of the
					 weigh-in, and the name and phone number of a tournament
					 representative.