OYSTER RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 365 



LAWS OF CALIFOKNIA RELATIVE TO OYSTERS. 



Chapter XVII. — ^hi act to encouraf/c the plantiitij (tnd ntltivation of oijsters. 

 [Approved March 30, 1874; Stat. Cal. 1874, p. 910.] 



Sec. 1. Any citizen of the United States may lay down and plant oysters in any 

 of the bays, rivers, or j)ublic waters of this State, and the ownershii> of and the 

 exclnsive right to take up and carry off the s.anie shall ho continued and remain in 

 such person or persons who shall have laid down and planted the same. 



Sec. 2. Any person or persons who now have or may hereafter lay down and plant 

 oysters, as hereinl^efore provided, sliall stake or fence off the land upon whicli the 

 same is or hereafter may be laid down and planted, and such stakes or fences shall 

 be sufficient marks of the boundaries and limits, and entitle such person or persons 

 to the exclusive use and occupation thereof for the purposes prescribed in this act: 

 Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be deemed to authorize any impedi- 

 ment or ol)structious to the navigation of any channels. 



Sec. 3. Parties planting or laying down such oyster beds shall record a full de- 

 scription of said bed or beds in the county recorder's office in the county where the 

 same is situated. The recorder shall record the description so furnished in a book 

 to be kept by him for that purpose, to be entitled a "Record of oyster beds." 



Sec. 4. Any person or persons who shall enter upon any lot of land in which there 

 shall be oysters laid down and planted, and wliich at tlie time of such entry shall 

 befencedor staked off i>ursiiant to the provisions of this act, and who shall take up 

 and carry oft' therefrom such oysters, without the consent or permission of the occu- 

 pants and owners thereof, and shall willfully destroy or remove, or cause to be 

 removed or destroyed, any stakes, marks, or fences intended to designate the bound- 

 aries and limits of any land claimed and staked or fenced off" pursuant to the pro- 

 visions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 



Sec. 5. The penalties of the penal code relative to misdemeanors are hereby made 

 applicable to any violation of the provisions of this act. 



Sec. 6. All fines and penalties collected for a, violation of any of the provisions of 

 this act over and above the costs o_f suit shall be paid into the common school fund 

 of the county where the offense was committed. 



Sec. 7. All parties availing themselves of the provisions of this act shall erect or 

 cause to be erected, on some conspicuous part of the grcumds devoted to the planting 

 of oysters, a sign not less than 6 feet in length and 1 foot in width, on which shall 

 be painted in black letters upon a white ground the words, " oyster beds." 



Sec. 8. All acts and ]>arts of acts in conllict with the jirovisious of (liis act, and 

 especially an act entitled "An act concerning oysters," passed April 2S, 1851 (Cal. 

 Stat., 1851, p. 132), as also the act entitled "An act concerning oyster beds," a|)i)roved 

 April 2, 18(i(i (Cal. Stat., 1866, p. 848), are hereby repealed. 



Sec. 9. This act shall not apply to any tide lauds which the State may have sold 

 to private parties: Prorirfert /ifr/Ac?', That nothing herein shall bo construed as to 

 interfere with the right of the State to sell or dispose of any of the tide lands, nor to 

 affect in any manner the rights of purchasers at any sale of the tide lands by the State. 



Sec. 10. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. 



Note. — Tho acts mentioned in section 8 were continued in force by Political Code. 



Cjiaptkr XVIII. — Penal code. 



602. Every person wIkj M'illfully commits any trespass by either: 

 7. pjutering upon any land owned by any other person or persons, Avhereon oys- 

 ters or other shelllish areplantcnlor growing, or injuring, gathering, or carrying away 

 any oysters or otln^r shellfish planted, growing, or being on any sucli lands, whether 

 covered by water or not, without the license of the owner or legal occupant thereof, 

 or destroying or removing, or causing to be removedor destroyed, any stakes, marks, 

 fences, or signs intended to designate the boundaries and limits of any such land, 

 is guilty of a misdemeanor. 



