(a)  No person except the director of environmental management, enforcement officers, and authorized technical personnel of the department of environmental management shall place, set, keep, maintain, sell, transfer, or have in his or her possession, any pot, trap, car, or any other device used in taking or holding lobster or crabs, nor take, remove, or carry away from the beach or shore any pot, trap, car, or other device or line (warp) or buoy without the written permission of the their owner.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 20-7-12.1

  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • possession: means the exercise of dominion or control over cultured crops commencing at the time that a decision is made not to return the crops to the lease or facility from which they were taken. See Rhode Island General Laws 20-1-3

(b)  Every person convicted of violating this section shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each offense, or be imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both, and each pot, trap, car, or device used in violation of this section shall constitute a separate offense. In addition, if that person is licensed, his or her license shall be revoked for one year.

History of Section.
P.L. 1986, ch. 204, § 2.