246 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 77

Culture, " as same was enacted by Chapter 300 of the Acts
of 1933, be and the same is hereby repealed and re-enacted
with amendments to read as follows:

Section 154B. The waters of Worcester County, except
those exempted by Section 125, and such waters as are or
may be designated as clamming grounds, provided for in
Section 154BB, are hereby declared to be open for oyster
culture, according to the provisions of this sub-title and as
herein provided.

Any resident of Maryland who may desire to plant or
cultivate oysters on said area may apply to the Conserva-
tion Department for a lease, not exceeding fifty acres to
any one person.

At the time of filing the application the applicant shall
stake out the ground applied for and designate same by
four suitable stakes or markers, one of which shall be
placed on each corner of said lot, and shall plainly mark
his name on the two outer stakes. Said stakes when prop-
erly placed shall designate the lot applied for and give the
applicant prior rights to said ground until the surveyor of
the department shall have an opportunity to survey same
in order to get the proper boundaries. After said ground
has been so surveyed, the stakes or buoys must be kept up
as is required in the case of other leased ground in the
State.

Whenever the Conservation Commissioner shall consider
that the Ocean City Inlet is sufficiently advanced to war-
rant the leasing of oyster bottoms, he shall give notice, by
publication in a newspaper of general circulation in
Worcester County, that on a day to be named in said
notice, he will receive applications for lease; and no ap-
plication shall be acted upon by the Conservation Com-
missioner until after the giving of said notice as herein
provided.

All applications shall be given priority in the order in
which they are received, except that for a period of thirty
days after the effective date named in said notice priority
rights shall extend to any bona fide owner or occupant of
a planted area in any of these waters.

After said thirty days have elapsed, any resident of
Worcester County shall have prior right over all other ap-
plicants for a period of thirty days.

No assignment or transfer of any interest acquired by
this sub-title shall be valid for any purpose if made to a
non-resident of this State, a corporation or joint stock com-
pany. If any such assignment is attempted to be made, or