WM. PRESTON LANE, JR., GOVERNOR. 453
CHAPTER 284.
(Senate Bill 174)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Sub-
section (i) of Section 1 of Article 72 of the Annotated
Code of Maryland (1939 Edition), title "Oysters and
Clams", sub-title "Definitions", as said Article was re-
codified by Chapter 929 of the Acts of 1945, further
defining a natural oyster bar.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Sub-section (i) of Section 1 of Article 72 of the
Annotated Code of Maryland (1939 Edition), title "Oys-
ters and Clams", sub-title "Definitions", as said Article
was recodified by Chapter 929 of the Acts of 1945, be and
it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments,
to read as follows:

1.

(i) Natural Oyster Bar—Any submerged oyster bar,
reef, rock or area represented as an oyster bar on the
Charts of the Oyster Survey of 1906 to 1912, or amend-
ments thereto, or any such area which has or shall be
declared by any Circuit Court to be a natural oyster bar,
or any area on which the Department of Tidewater Fish-
eries has planted or shall plant oysters or shells; all such
areas, bars, rocks or reefs, being delineated on charts in the
office of the Department of Tidewater Fisheries.

A "natural oyster bar" whenever used in this Article,
shall also be construed to mean and include all oyster beds
and bars under any of the water of this State whereon the
natural growth of oysters is in such abundance that the
public have successfully resorted to such beds or bars for
a livelihood, whether continuously or at intervals, during
any oyster season within five years prior to the filing of
the application for a lease of the area in question, or
within five years prior to the making of a re-survey under
this section, provided that the actual condition of the area
in question at any time within said respective periods of
five years or up to the date of the hearing of shall be taken
into consideration in determining whether or not said
area is a natural bed or bar, as herein defined.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act is
hereby declared to be an emergency measure and necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public health and