28.2-530 - Taking oysters or loading on vessel on Sunday or at night; penalty. - Virginia Statutes

§ 28.2-530. Taking oysters or loading on vessel on Sunday or at night;penalty.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to take oysters, from either public orprivate grounds, on Sunday or between sunset and sunrise; nor shall anyperson load any vessel or boat for such purpose with any oysters from any ofthe waters of the Commonwealth on Sunday or between sunset and sunrise.

B. Shucking oysters taken from the public grounds other than from designatedseed areas may be unloaded on shore at packinghouses or loaded on trucks ormotor vehicles one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise.Those oysters which have been inspected by an officer and purchased by thepacker or planter, and the oysters owned by the packer or planter, may beunloaded at any time except Sunday within the discretion of the packer.

C. The provisions of subsection A of this section shall not apply to (i) thetaking or catching, by hand during the prescribed hours of daylight onSunday, of not more than one bushel of oysters for personal use or (ii) thetaking or catching of cultured oysters during the prescribed hours ofdaylight on Sunday. The presence, on board a boat or other vehicle being usedduring any Sunday harvesting, except as part of a oyster aquacultureoperation, of any gear normally associated with the harvesting of oystersother than by hand is prima facie evidence of a violation of the provisionsof this section.

A violation of this section is a Class 3 misdemeanor.

(Code 1950, § 28-195; 1958, c. 471; 1960, c. 517; 1962, c. 406, § 28.1-139;1966, c. 684; 1975, c. 185; 1981, c. 119; 1992, c. 836; 1996, c. 434.)