No person except the licensed owner, an authorized licensed agent of the owner, the commissioner or authorized agents of the department or law enforcement officers empowered to serve criminal process shall remove or attempt to remove any fish or lobster from any pound, weir, net, pot or other device used for the purpose of taking or retaining fish or lobsters. No person shall have in his possession or set or cause to be set any trap, pot or other device for taking fish or lobsters which belong to another without having written authorization from the owner or his authorized agent. Any trap, pot or other device so set and not identified by the owner's number, which shall be assigned by the commissioner, shall, for the purpose of this section, be considered prima facie evidence of having been stolen or illegally possessed by the person setting the same. Any unauthorized person who lifts, raises, draws or molests, or assists in so doing, any trap, pot or other device set for the purpose of taking fish or lobsters, or steals any fish or lobster therefrom except as provided herein, shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars or be imprisoned not more than six months or both. Any trap, pot or other device and accessories thereto used in violation of this section shall be forfeited to the state and shall be sold or otherwise disposed of by the commissioner or his authorized agent.
(1949 Rev., S. 4980; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 330; P.A. 79-125.)
History: 1971 act replaced references to board of fisheries and game, its director, members and their agents with references to environmental protection department and commissioner and their agents; P.A. 79-125 increased maximum fine from $100 to $200.
Intent of statute is to make fish or lobsters which have been caught the subject of larceny and it is not essential to prove the identity of the owner of the stolen property. 37 CS 809.