Section 4-1011 - Patent and hand tonging in certain county waters. - Maryland Statutes

§ 4-1011. Patent and hand tonging in certain county waters.
 

(a)  Patent tonging prohibited in certain county waters.- A person may not use patent tongs to catch oysters in any of the following waters: Wicomico, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Dorchester, and Kent counties, except on the following natural oyster bars: 2-9, 2-10, 5-1, 5-2, also known as Huntingfield Bar 5-3, and 5-7, as defined on the charts of the Oyster Survey of 1906 to 1912, and its amendments. 

(b)  Talbot County.- A person may catch oysters by patent or hand tongs in Talbot County waters within the following bounds: 
 

Beginning at Kent Point and following the territorial county line in an easterly direction to where it intercepts the Queen Anne's County-Talbot County line, then following the county line northeasterly to the point where a straight line drawn from Long Point to the Wades Point bell buoy intersects the county line, from there in a southeasterly direction to the Wades Point bell buoy, and then direct to Wades Point, and then following the shoreline to Lowes Point, and then direct towards the Bloody Point Lighthouse for a distance of 1.8 miles, and then direct to North Point on Poplar Island. 

(c)  Patent tonging in Patuxent River and tributaries of Potomac River.- A person may not use patent tongs to catch oysters: 

(1) In the Patuxent River above and north of a straight line joining Sotterly Wharf and the beacon at St. Leonard Creek; or 

(2) In the tributaries of the Potomac River. 

(d)  Tonging in Holland Straits within Somerset County.- A person may take or catch oysters by hand tong only in the waters of Holland Straits lying within the territorial limits of Somerset County. Holland Straits is that body of water bound by a line, on the north or Tangier Sound side, drawn from Lower Island Point to Sound Point and by a line, on the south or Kedges Straits side, drawn from Pry Island to the southern end of Holland Island. 

(e)  Patent tonging in South River in Anne Arundel County.- A person may not use patent tongs to catch oysters in the South River in Anne Arundel County above and west of a straight line drawn between Thomas Point and Saunders Point. 

(f)  Patent tonging in Chesapeake Bay adjacent to Dorchester County.- A person may not use patent tongs to catch oysters in waters of Chesapeake Bay that are adjacent to Dorchester County and that lie generally eastward and northward of a line drawn in a southeasterly direction from the southernmost tip of Barren Island to Richland Point on Hooper Island. 
 

[An. Code 1957, art. 66C, § 700; 1973, 1st Sp. Sess., ch. 4, § 1; 1975, chs. 83, 529; 1978, ch. 570; 1980, ch. 152; ch. 712, § 2; 1982, ch. 314; 1983, chs. 194, 524; 1984, ch. 252; 2000, ch. 61, § 7.]