Fish Protection

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(515 ILCS 5/Art. 5 heading)

ARTICLE 5. FISH PROTECTION

 

(515 ILCS 5/5-5) (from Ch. 56, par. 5-5)

Sec. 5-5. Ownership and title; violations; penalties. The ownership of and title to all aquatic life within the boundaries of the State, are hereby declared to be in the State, and no aquatic life shall be taken or killed, in any manner or at any time, unless the person or persons so taking or killing the aquatic life shall consent that the title to the aquatic life shall be and remain in the State for the purpose of regulating the taking, killing, possession, use, sale, and transportation of aquatic life after taking or killing, as set forth in this Code.

Aquatic products, including any aquatic plants and animals or their by-products that are produced, grown, managed, harvested and marketed on an annual, semi-annual, biennial or short-term basis, in permitted aquaculture facilities, bred, hatched, propagated, or raised by the owner of a body of water, with the consent of the Department of Natural Resources through the issuance of an aquaculture permit and consistent with this Section, in permitted aquaculture facilities in or on that body of water are the property of the person who bred, hatched, propagated, or raised them or that person's successor in interest. Ownership of aquatic products reverts to the State upon revocation or expiration of an aquaculture permit as prescribed by administrative rule.

If any person causes any waste, sewage, thermal effluent, or any other pollutant to enter into, or causes or allows pollution of, any waters of this State so as to kill aquatic life, the Department, through the Attorney General, may bring an action against that person and recover the value of and the related costs in determining the value of the aquatic life destroyed by the waste, sewage, thermal effluent, or pollution. Any money so recovered shall be placed into the Wildlife and Fish Fund in the State Treasury.

If any person shall abandon, deposit, or otherwise place any wire, can, bottle, glass, paper, trash, rubbish, cardboard, wood cartons, boxes, trees, parts of trees, brush, or other insoluble material, including animal or vegetable material, into the waters or upon the ice of any waters of this State, or in any place on the bank of waters of this State where it shall be liable to be washed into the waters either by storms, floods, or other causes, the person shall be in violation of the offense of polluting. Employees of the Department, however, may place or direct the placement, in the waters of the State, of insoluble materials deemed suitable for the purposes of enhancing aquatic habitat. Any person who shall be found guilty under this Section shall be guilty of a petty offense, and the Court shall further order that the guilty person shall employ every practical means of removing the debris within a time specified by the Court. Failure to comply with an order under this Section shall constitute a Class B misdemeanor.

(Source: P.A. 102-555, eff. 1-1-22.)

 

(515 ILCS 5/5-10) (from Ch. 56, par. 5-10)

Sec. 5-10. Application. This Code shall apply to aquatic life or parts of aquatic life (i) in or from any of the lakes, rivers, creeks, sloughs, bayous, or other waters or watercourses or lands wholly within the boundaries of the State of Illinois or over which the State of Illinois has concurrent jurisdiction with any other State or (ii) which may be brought into the State of Illinois.

(Source: P.A. 87-833.)

 

(515 ILCS 5/5-15) (from Ch. 56, par. 5-15)

Sec. 5-15. Permissible devices. Aquatic life or parts of aquatic life shall be taken only with the devices and in the manner permitted by this Code, and the terms of this Code shall apply with equal force to aquatic life when smoked, frozen, or otherwise processed.

(Source: P.A. 87-833.)

 

(515 ILCS 5/5-20) (from Ch. 56, par. 5-20)

Sec. 5-20. Taking aquatic life on private property. Any person taking or attempting to take aquatic life by means of any device within waters other than public waters of the State shall first obtain the consent of the owner or tenant of the premises where the taking is done or attempted to be done. In addition, the persons taking or attempting to take aquatic life on another's property shall do so in a manner that does not cause wanton or careless injury to or destruction of any real or personal property on the premises.

It shall be prima facie evidence that a person does not have the consent of the owner or tenant if the person is unable to demonstrate to the law enforcement officer in the field that consent had been obtained. This provision may only be rebutted by testimony of the owner or tenant that consent had been given. Before enforcing this Section, the law enforcement officer must have received notice from the owner or tenant of a violation of this Section. Statements made to the law enforcement officer regarding this notice shall not be rendered inadmissible by the hearsay rule when offered for the purpose of showing the required notice.

(Source: P.A. 87-114; 87-833; 87-895.)

 

(515 ILCS 5/5-25) (from Ch. 56, par. 5-25)

Sec. 5-25. Value of protected species; violations.

(a) Any person who, for profit or commercial purposes, knowingly captures or kills, possesses, offers for sale, sells, offers to barter, barters, offers to purchase, purchases, delivers for shipment, ships, exports, imports, causes to be shipped, exported, or imported, delivers for transportation, transports or causes to be transported, carries or causes to be carried, or receives for shipment, transportation, carriage, or export any aquatic life, or parts thereof, contrary to the provisions of the Code or administrative rule, and that aquatic life, in whole or in part, is valued at or in excess of a total of $300, as per species value specified in subsection (c) of this Section, commits a Class 3 felony.

A person is guilty of a Class 4 felony if convicted under this Section for more than one violation within a 90-day period if the aquatic life involved in each violation are not valued at or in excess of $300 but the total value of the aquatic life involved with the multiple violations is at or in excess of $300. The prosecution for a Class 4 felony for these multiple violations must be alleged in a single charge or indictment and brought in a single prosecution.

Any person who violates this subsection (a) when the total value of species is less than $300 commits a Class A misdemeanor except as otherwise provided.

(b) Possession of aquatic life, in whole or in part, captured or killed in violation of this Code, valued at or in excess of $600, as per species value specified in subsection (c) of this Section, shall be considered prima facie evidence of possession for profit or commercial purposes.

(c) For purposes of this Section, the fair market value or replacement cost, whichever is greater, must be used to determine the value of the species, but in no case shall the minimum value of all aquatic life and their hybrids, whether dressed or not dressed, be less than the following:

  • (1) For each muskellunge, northern pike, walleye, striped bass, sauger, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, trout (all species), salmon (all species other than chinook caught from August 1 through December 31), bowfin, paddlefish, and sturgeon (other than pallid or lake sturgeon) of a weight, dressed or not dressed, of one pound or more, $4 for each pound or fraction of a pound. For each individual fish with a dressed or not dressed weight of less than one pound, $4. For parts of fish processed past the dressed state, $8 per pound.
  • (2) For each warmouth, rock bass, white bass, yellow bass, sunfish (all species except largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass), bluegill, crappie, bullheads, pickerels, yellow perch, catfish (all species), and mussels of a weight, dressed or not dressed, of one pound or more, $4 for each pound or fraction of a pound of aquatic life. For each individual aquatic life with a dressed or not dressed weight of less than one pound, $4. For aquatic life parts processed past the dressed state, $8 per pound.
  • (3) (Blank).
  • (4) (Blank).
  • (5) For goldeye, mooneye, carp, carpsuckers (all species), suckers (all species), redhorse (all species), buffalo (all species), freshwater drum, skipjack, shad (all species), alewife, smelt, gar, chinook salmon caught from August 1 through December 31, and all other aquatic life, not listed in paragraphs (1), (2), or (5) of subsection (c) of this Section, $1 per pound, in part or in whole.
  • (6) For each species listed on the federal or State endangered and threatened species list, and for lake and pallid sturgeon, $150 per animal in whole or in part. (Source: P.A. 102-368, eff. 1-1-22.)

 

(515 ILCS 5/5-30)

Sec. 5-30. Shark fins.

(a) As used in this Section, "shark" means any species of the subclass Elasmobranchii.

(b) As used in this Section, "shark fin" means a raw, dried, or otherwise processed detached fin or a raw, dried, or otherwise processed detached tail of a shark.

(c) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) of this Section, a person may not possess, sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute a shark fin on or after January 1, 2013.

(d) Until July 1, 2013, any person may possess, sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute a shark fin possessed by that person on January 1, 2013.

(Source: P.A. 97-733, eff. 1-1-13.)


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