2240 ARTICLE 72.

158. How, when and by whom oysters may be caught upon reserved areas; tax; certificates; culling; special license; oath; when reserved areas thrown open to public. Penalties. 159. Disposition of tax. 160. Conservation commission to select and reserve natural beds, etc., for oyster cultivation; closing and reopening

of such area; tax; transplanting; special license. 161. Experimental area; powers of com- mission; penalty. 162. Boats to guard reserved areas, when closed and during current season when reopened. 163. Reports to General Assembly of prog- ress of replenishing natural beds, etc., under " Reserved Area " law...

Tonging.

An. Code, sec. 1. 1904, sec. 1. 1894, ch. 380, sec. 1. 1900, ch. 380.
1910, ch. 413, sec. 1 (p. 205). 1920, ch. 680.

1. Any resident of this State desiring to catch oysters with rakes or
tongs for sale in any of the waters of this State shall first obtain by -appli-
cation to the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the county wherein he may
reside a separate license for every persoi} to be employed on such boat,
and such license shall have effect from the first day of September, in the
year which it may have been obtained, to the twenty-fifth day of April,
inclusive, next succeeding; provided, that such license shall not author-
ize the taking or catching of oysters in any creek, cove, river, inlet, bay
or sound within the limit of any county other than that wherein the license
shall have been granted; and that the boundaries of the counties or navi-
gable waters shall be strictly construed so as not to permit the residents
of either county to take or catch oysters beyond the middle of the divid-
ing channel; provided, that nothing in this section shall be so construed
as to prevent the citizens of Queen Anne's and Kent Counties from using
the waters of Chester Eiver in common, or the citizens of Dorchester and
Wicomico Counties from using the waters of Nanticoke River in common,
or the Citizens of Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties from using the waters
of the Wye River and the mouth thereof in common, or the citizens of
Dorchester and Talbot Counties from using the waters of the Choptank
River in common; provided, however, that the County Commissioners
shall be authorized to give special permission to any woman who has no
visible means of support to take and catch oysters without license. Pro-
vided, that the open season for the taking or catching of oysters in the
Tred Avon River and its tributaries in Talbot County shall be from the
first day of October to the twenty-fifth day of April, each year, both dates
inclusive; and the open season for the taking or catching of oysters on the
oyster bar known as Tilghman's Point, bordering on the Tred Avon River
near the town limits of Oxford, in said county, shall be from the first day
of January to the twenty-fifth day of April, each year, both dates inclusive.

The oyster beds of Chesapeake bay are property of the state, and legislature may
make all reasonable regulations concerning same. State v. Applegarth, 81 Md. 299;
Hess v. Muir, 65 Md. 606 (separate opinion).

The act of 1894, ch. 380, is not unconstitutional as embracing a subject distinct
from its title. State v. Applegarth, 81 Md. 303.

This section referred to in deciding that sec. 9 applies only to oysters taken,
from the waters of this state. Tyler v. State, 93 Md. 313.