OYSTERS 2749

An. Code, 1924, sec. 161. 1912, sec. 135B. 1917, ch. 12, sec. 135B. 1922, ch. 543.

1927, ch. 123, sec. 161.

164. The Conservation Commission of Maryland is authorized to select
and reserve for a period not exceeding two years for oyster conservation
and propagation any portion or portions of the depleted natural beds,
bars and rocks of the Chesapeake Bay or its tributaries not to exceed in
the aggregate one thousand acres, and to give notice thereof in the manner
stated in Section 159, and to transplant thereon seed oysters, shells, or
other cultch, or to propagate seed oysters, or for the purpose of protecting
the catch of young growth of oysters, or for rehabilitating any depleted
natural beds, bars or rocks in the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries. Any
person catching oysters upon such area without permission from the Com-
mission shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to the penalties pre-
scribed in Section 159.¹

1931, ch. 297, sec. 161A.

165. The Conservation Commission of Maryland is authorized to
select and reserve one thousand acres of the natural oyster beds, bars or
rocks in Honga River, lying northerly and above a line drawn from
Wheatley Point on Wrotens Island to the northeasternmost point on Gun-
ners Island, to be designated with suitable markers, as hereinafter pro-
vided, said area to be known as "State Experimental Oyster Farm."

It shall be the duty of the Conservation Commission to lay out and
mark said farm by at least four suitable markers, buoys or monuments, to
be numbered respectively, one to be placed on each corner of the area, and
if additional ones are required, they should be placed at such points as
may be deemed necessary; said area shall be subject to change at the
discretion of the Commission, but shall not at any time exceed the aggre-
gate of one thousand acres or be placed in any area other than the one
mentioned above.

When and after said markers have been erected the Commission shall
give notice thereof by advertisement for a period of four weeks in one of
the newspapers of Dorchester County, advising and warning the public
against the disturbance or removal of said buoys or the trespassing upon
the waters of said farm for the purpose of taking or catching oysters or
disturbing or interfering with the oysters, shells, cultch, or any equipment
used by the Conservation Department for the purpose of experimental
work.

1931, ch. 297, sec. 161B.

166. For the purpose of operating the experimental farm, provided
for in the above section, the Conservation Commission is authorized to
transplant seed oysters, shells, or cultch; to propagate seed oysters; to
protect the catch of young growth of oyster's; to conduct any and all experi-
ments in connection with the research work of the Chesapeake Biological
Laboratory, and transplant and dispose of any catch of seed oysters or
cultch, taken from said farm to other waters of the State to continue such
experimental work.

¹ Sec. 2 of ch. 123 of acts of 1927 repealed all laws inconsistent therewith to extent
of such inconsistency.