HARRY HUGHES, Governor

2153

funds for this purpose; requiring the Department to conduct
a certain study concerning the return of oyster shells to
the waters of the State; requiring the Department to file a
certain report with the General Assembly by a certain date;
and generally relating to the returning of oyster shells to
the Chesapeake Bay or its tributaries.

BY adding to

Article - Natural  Resources

Section 4-1019.1

Annotated Code of  Maryland

(1983 Replacement  Volume and 1985 Supplement)

Preamble

WHEREAS, Natural spatfall in the Maryland portion of the
Chesapeake Bay has declined to a level where oyster management
strategies of planting dredge shell and moving seed oysters
cannot alone provide a cost-effective supplement to the Maryland
oyster industry; and

WHEREAS, A decade and one-half of low spat set in
combination with a very high disease-induced mortality of oysters
during 1980 and 1983 has caused the resource to reach a low
density of harvestable oysters; and

WHEREAS, Existing management strategies need to be modified
to implement new techniques that can help increase future harvest
harvests and strengthen the viability of the Maryland oyster
industry; and

WHEREAS, One management aspect should be pursued in the
conservation and wise utilization of all fresh oyster shell
harvested from the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay since
fresh oyster shell is a renewable biological resource and
provides the substrate for future generations of oysters; and

WHEREAS, All fresh Fresh shell should be returned to the
Chesapeake Bay to assist in the recovery of the oyster industry
by providing a substrate for natural oyster repopulation; and

WHEREAS, In the case of Leonard v. Earle, 155 Md 252 (1928),
272 U.S. 392 (1929), both the Court of Appeals of Maryland and
the Supreme Court of the United States determined that oysters in
the waters of the State are property of the State on behalf of
all of its citizens, and that therefore compensation is not
constitutionally mandated in connection with a requirement that
oyster shell taken from the waters of the State be returned to
the State for use in oyster propagation; and

WHEREAS, The General Assembly recognizes that oyster shell
is a tradeable commodity for purposes other than oyster
propagation and is a source of profit for oyster packers; and