Opinion ID: 1832587
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wildlife Laws and Regulations

Text: The control and supervision of the wildlife of the state, including all aquatic life, is vested in the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission by La. Const. art. IX, § 7. The Louisiana statutes pertaining to wildlife and fisheries are generally contained in Title 56 of the Revised Statutes. La.Rev.Stat. 56:6(25)(a), pertaining to all wildlife and fish, authorizes the Commission to promulgate rules and regulations, subject to the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act, to set seasons, times, places, size limits, quotas, daily take, and possession limits, based upon biological and technical data.... Section 6(25)(a) further provides in part: Any such rule or regulation shall have as its objective the sound conservation, preservation, replenishment, and management of that species for maximum continuing social and economic benefit to the state without overfishing that causes short-term or long-term biological damage to any species, and regarding all species of fish, without overfishing leads to such damage. Any season, time, place, size, quota, daily take or possession limit currently set by law shall be superseded upon promulgation by the commission of new rules and regulations concerning a particular species.... Penalties for violation of rules and regulations set by the commission pursuant to this Section shall be established by law. Part VII of Title 56, entitled Fish and Other Aquatic Life, deals generally with the regulation of sport and commercial fishing. La.Rev.Stat. 56:333, which governs particularly the fishing of mullet, provides in part: A. The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission shall adopt rules to regulate the taking of mullet. Such regulations, except as provided in Subsection B of this Section, shall provide for zones, permits, fees, and other provisions necessary to implement this Section. . . . F. Any person convicted of any offense involving fisheries laws or regulations shall forfeit any permit or license issued to commercially take mullet and shall forever be barred from receiving any permit or license to commercially take mullet. Any person who, after having been barred from the commercial mullet fishery pursuant to this Subsection, violates any provision of this Section shall be penalized under the provisions of a Class 7-B regulation, R.S. 56:37. G. (1) The commission shall make an annual peer reviewed and evaluated report to the legislature no later than March first that contains the following information on mullet: (a) The spawning potential ratio. (b) A biological condition and profile of the species and stock assessment. (2) If the report shows that the spawning potential ratio is below thirty percent, the department shall close the season within two weeks for a period of at least one year. [4] Purportedly acting under the authority of La.Rev.Stat. 56:333 A, the Commission adopted La. Admin. Code tit. 76, Part VII, § 343 (1995). Subsections 343A-D (except for commercial and recreational limits and cost of permits), as well as Subsection F and most of E, substantially track La.Rev.Stat. 56:333. However, Section 343(E)(5) of the Code contains the additional provision that forms the basis of the criminal charges here at issue. Section 343(E)(5) provides: 5. Each Mullet Permit holder shall, on or before the 10th of each month of the open season, submit an information return to the department on forms provided or approved for this purpose, including the pounds of mullet taken commercially during the preceding month, and the commercial dealers to whom these were sold. Monthly reports shall be filed, even if catch or effort is zero. Significantly, the Legislature, long before the Commission's adoption of the administrative rule here at issue, had imposed a comprehensive statutory reporting requirement both on commercial fishermen and on wholesale and retail dealers. La. Rev.Stat. 56:345 B required commercial fishermen, who sold any fish to anyone other than a resident wholesale or retail dealer, to file a report monthly to the DWF showing in detail the quantity of each kind of fish sold during the preceding month. [5] The penalty for a first violation of Section 345 B is a fine of $250 to $500 and imprisonment of not more than ninety days.