1102                                       LAWS OF MARYLAND                                 Ch. 133

shall take effect July 1, 1978.
Approved April 11, 1978.

CHAPTER 134

(House Bill 569)

AN ACT concerning

Oyster Culling

FOR the purpose of requiring that stones, gravel, and slag
be returned to natural oyster bars in addition to
shells; altering certain measurements regarding
oysters; authorizing the Department of Natural
Resources to permit the possession of certain oysters
under certain conditions; altering the total of cultch
and certain sized oysters a person may possess under
certain circumstances; excluding certain oysters and
cultch from certain measurements; and generally
relating to oysters and cultch.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,

Article - Natural Resources
Section 4-1015(a) and (b)
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1974 Volume and 1977 Supplement)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That section(s) of the Annotated Code of Maryland
be repealed, amended, or enacted to read as follows:

Article - Natural Resources

4-1015.

(a) A person who catches oysters from the waters of
the State with any scoop, dredge, tong, rake, or any similar
instrument shall cull the oysters on the natural bar from
which they were caught, and return [every shell] to the bar
ALL SHELLS, STONES, GRAVEL, AND SLAG. Any oyster whose
shell measures less than 3 inches in length[,] from hinge to
[mouth] BILL, whether or not attached to a marketable
oyster, shall be included in the culling and replaced on the
bar from which caught. [If any oyster measuring less than 3
inches adheres so closely to the shell of a marketable
oyster that it renders impossible its removal without
destroying the small oyster, them both oysters shall be
returned to the bar from which caught. However, marketable
oysters may be retained if the small oyster adhering to the
marketable oyster is less than 1 inch in length from hinge
to mouth and cannot be removed without destroying the small