1424 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 929

territory and to prohibit the taking or catching of oysters
thereon whenever in the judgment of the Department of Tide-
water Fisheries it shall seem necessary or desirable to protect
or promote the growth of oysters, or to plant thereon oysters,
shells, or other cultch, or to take any other restorative meas-
ures which the Department may deem advisable.

(c) Authority to Close County Dredging and Tonging Bars.
The Department of Tidewater Fisheries is authorized to close
any portion of the natural oyster bars open to tonging only
or to both tonging and county dredging, and to prohibit the
taking or catching of oysters thereon; provided, however, that
no such bars may be closed except for the purpose of planting
oysters on the same.

(d) Procedure of Closing an Area. Before closing any area
the Department of Tidewater Fisheries shall first give notice
by at least one advertisement in a newspaper of its intention
to close said area. Said notice shall describe the area to be
closed and the proposed date of closing, and shall be published
in a newspaper of general circulation in the State if said area
is in the Chesapeake Bay dredging territory, or in a newspaper
of general circulation in the county where such area is located
if said areas are located in county waters. No area may be
closed, however, until the lapse of forty-eight hours after the
publication of said notice.

(e) Reopening and Reclosing of an Area. After closing an
area the Department of Tidewater Fisheries is authorized to
reopen said area whenever, in the judgment of said Depart-
ment, such reopening is advisable. An area shall be reopened by
notice of such reopening published in the same newspaper or
newspapers that published the notice or notices of closing; pro-
vided, however, no area shall be reopened until a lapse of forty-
eight hours from the publication of the notice of reopening.
The Department of Tidewater Fisheries shall have authority to
close immediately by oral or written notification to tongers or
dredgers any area which has been reopened.

(f) Closed Area Taxes. Any area which has been closed and
on which the Department of Tidewater Fisheries has planted
seed oysters or any area in the Chesapeake Bay dredging
territory on which said Department has planted either oysters,
shell, or other cultch shall, upon reopening, have a special tax
levied against all oysters caught upon such area. Said special
tax shall be for the purpose of recovering the expenses of
planting said area and shall be at the rate of not less than
ten cents (10) per bushel nor more than twenty cents (20c)
per bushel, said tax to be in addition to any other tax imposed
by law, and to be paid to the Department of Tidewater Fish-