The tags provided in this section shall be required in addition to any license required under s. 379.3751.
(1) No person shall take any alligator occurring in the wild or possess any such alligator unless such alligator is subsequently tagged in the manner required by commission rule. For the tag required for an alligator hatchling, the commission is authorized to assess a fee of not more than $15 for each alligator hatchling tag issued. The commission shall expend one-third of the revenue generated from the issuance of the alligator hatchling tag for alligator husbandry research.
(2) The commission may require that an alligator hide validation tag (CITES tag) be affixed to the hide of any alligator taken from the wild and that such hide be possessed, purchased, sold, offered for sale, or transported in accordance with commission rule. The commission is authorized to assess a fee of up to $30 for each alligator hide validation tag issued. Irrespective of whether a fee is assessed, $5 per validated hide, excluding those validated from public hunt programs and alligator farms, shall be transferred from the alligator management program to the General Inspection Trust Fund, to be administered by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for the purpose of providing marketing and education services with respect to alligator products produced in this state, notwithstanding other provisions in this chapter.
(3) The number of tags available for alligators taken pursuant to a collection permit shall be limited to the number of tags determined by the commission to equal the safe yield of alligators as determined pursuant to s. 379.3013.
s. 5, ch. 87-199; s. 19, ch. 98-333; s. 16, ch. 2000-364
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