§431. Unlawful removal of oysters or signs from leased propagating grounds; instructions to captain and crew of vessels; penalty

            A. No person shall knowingly or willfully take, carry away, or attempt to take or carry away, without permission of the lessee, any oysters, shell, or cultch from the water bottoms of the Gulf of Mexico or the lakes, bays, inlets, lagoons, rivers, bayous, or other waters tributary thereto or connecting therewith, within the jurisdiction of the state where the bottoms are, at the time of such taking, let or leased to any person under the laws of Louisiana, for the purpose of bedding, planting, propagating, or cultivating oysters.

            B. No person shall knowingly or willfully remove, break off, destroy, or otherwise injure or alter any stake, monument, bounds, buoy, sign, or other designation of bedding or propagating ground placed thereon by the lessee, or knowingly or willfully move from any bedding ground any stake, monument, bounds, buoy, sign, mark, or other designation placed thereon by the department or in accordance with its regulations or any Sections in this Subpart.

            C. All owners or employers of vessels engaged in the oyster industry in this state shall issue typewritten instructions to the captains and crews in charge of the vessels, calling attention to the provisions of this Section. These instructions shall be duly executed before a competent notary by the parties interested, the original to be kept by the department and duplicate to be had in possession at all times by the captain of the vessel. This duplicate shall be shown on demand of any officer or agent of the department. Lack of possession of such document on a vessel, or a refusal to show the same, is prima facie evidence that the paper does not exist.

            D.(1) Violation of any of the provisions of this Section constitutes a class six violation. The imposition of these penalties does not bar the prosecution and conviction of the wrongdoer under the criminal statutes of this state.

            (2)(a) In addition to all other penalties provided in this Section, upon conviction for the first violation of Subsection A of this Section, the oyster harvester's license under which the violation occurred shall be revoked by the department and no new such license shall be issued for one year from the date of the conviction. In addition, the violator shall be sentenced to perform no less than forty hours of community service. If available, the hours shall be served in a litter abatement community service program. During the period in which the violator is prohibited from possession of an oyster harvester license for a first offense, the violator may be present on a vessel harvesting or processing oysters only if that vessel is equipped with and is actively using a vessel monitoring system as prescribed in R.S. 56:424.1.

            (b) Upon conviction for the second violation of Subsection A of this Section, the violator's oyster harvester license shall be revoked, and no new such license shall be issued for three years from the date of conviction. In addition, the violator shall be sentenced to perform no less than ninety hours of community service. If available, the hours shall be served in a litter abatement community service program. During the period in which the violator is prohibited from possession of an oyster harvester license for a second violation, the violator shall not be present on a vessel harvesting or processing oysters.

            (c) Upon conviction for the third or subsequent violation of Subsection A of this Section, the violator's oyster harvester license shall be revoked, and no new such license shall be issued for ten years from the date of the third or subsequent conviction. In addition, the violator shall be sentenced to perform no less than one hundred twenty hours of community service. If available, the hours shall be served in a litter abatement community service program. During the period in which the violator is prohibited from possession of an oyster harvester license for a third or subsequent violation, the violator shall not be present on a vessel harvesting or processing oysters.

            Acts 1981, No. 925, §1; Acts 1992, No. 528, §1, eff. June 29, 1992; Acts 1999, No. 120, §1; Acts 2015, No. 211, §1.