Section 27-4-190. Master collecting and picker's permits; hours for taking shellfish; recreational harvesting

   (a) (1) It shall be unlawful to take or possess shellfish in commercial quantities or for commercial purposes without first having obtained a master collecting permit or without proof of purchase that such shellfish were purchased from a certified shellfish dealer. Master collecting permits shall specify whether the permittee is authorized to take oysters, clams, or other shellfish and shall only be issued to persons certified by the Department of Agriculture to handle shellfish unless permission to take and possess shellfish for mariculture purposes has been granted by the department as described in subsection (d) of Code Section 27-4-197. Such permits shall be provided annually at no cost by the department but shall only be issued to persons with the right to harvest shellfish pursuant to Code Sections 44-8-6 through 44-8-8 or to holders of leases from such persons. A permittee may request authorization from the department for employees or agents, who shall be referred to as pickers, of such permittee to take shellfish from permitted areas. Such request shall be in writing to the department and shall include the name, address, and personal commercial fishing license number of the picker. It shall be unlawful for pickers to take or possess shellfish as authorized under their employer's master collecting permit unless they carry on their person while taking or in possession of shellfish a picker's permit as provided by the department indicating the exact area and circumstances allowed for taking. Such pickers' permits and charts shall be provided annually by the department at no cost and shall be in a form as prescribed by the department. Pickers must possess a valid personal commercial fishing license as provided for in Code Section 27-4-110 and, when a boat is used, a valid commercial fishing boat license as provided in Code Section 27-2-8. Master collecting permits and pickers' permits shall not be issued to persons who have been convicted three times in the two years immediately preceding the filing of an application for a permit of violations of this Code section, subsection (b) of Code Section 27-4-193, subsections (a) and (b) of Code Section 27-4-195, or Code Section 27-4-199. Master collecting permits and pickers' permits issued to master collecting permittees' agents shall be surrendered to the department upon termination of Department of Agriculture certification for handling shellfish, upon termination of right to harvest shellfish, or upon violation of any provision of this title. If a picker is removed from authorization to take shellfish by the master collecting permittee, that picker shall immediately surrender to the department his picker's permit. It shall be unlawful to possess unauthorized pickers' permits or pickers' permits issued to another person.

   (2) All commercially licensed vessels engaged in commercial shellfish harvest or transport, whether with shellfish on board or not, shall have a portable marine toilet on board, as the term is defined in Code Section 52-7-3.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to take or possess shellfish from unauthorized locations and during unauthorized periods of taking. It shall be unlawful to take shellfish except between the hours of one-half hour before sunrise and one-half hour after sunset.

(c) A master collecting permit shall not be issued if the permittee has failed to comply with Code Section 27-4-196 during the previous harvest season or if the issuance is determined not to be in accordance with sound, current principles of wildlife research and management by the department. Permits may be revoked according to Code Section 27-2-25.

(d) It shall be unlawful to take any quantity of shellfish for commercial purposes from public recreational harvest areas. Recreational quantities of oysters in the shell shall be two bushels per person with up to six bushels per boat per day. Recreational quantities of clams in the shell shall be one bushel or less per person with no more than one bushel per boat per day. Recreational quantities of shucked oysters or clams or a combination thereof shall be one gallon per day. It shall be unlawful to harvest shellfish recreationally except in areas designated by the commissioner except that private property owners or persons authorized by private property owners may harvest recreational quantities of shellfish from areas for which they have harvest rights to shellfish if they have in their possession proof of ownership or a letter of permission from the property owner stating the dates allowed to take shellfish, type of shellfish which may be taken, and a description of the area allowed for such taking. Private property owners wishing to harvest recreational quantities of shellfish or to issue permission to others to harvest recreational quantities of shellfish shall notify the department in writing prior to the taking of shellfish or the permitting of others to take shellfish so harvest areas can be opened according to Code Section 27-4-195. Permission to harvest shellfish recreationally in public recreational harvest areas shall be granted to all residents and nonresidents upon the designation of individual public recreational harvest areas.

Code 1981, § 27-4-190, enacted by Ga. L. 1991, p. 693, § 6; Ga. L. 2012, p. 739, § 27/HB 869.