Words and terms used in this chapter shall be construed as follows:

(1) “Animal” includes birds, quadrupeds, reptiles and amphibians.

(2) “Bait species” means all species of fish, frogs, crustaceans and insects listed as bait in the regulations issued by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection.

(3) “Black bass” means smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) and largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides).

(4) Repealed.

(5) “Closed season” means that period of time during which hunting, trapping or fishing is prohibited for any species of wildlife.

(6) “Commercial fisherman” means any person, firm or corporation engaged in commercial fishing.

(7) “Commercial fishing” means taking or attempting to take any regulated species for commercial purposes or by the use of any commercial fishing gear.

(8) “Commercial fishing gear” means any equipment commonly used to take regulated species for commercial purposes including, but not limited to, lobster pots, otter trawls, beam trawls, balloon trawls, midwater trawls, sea scallop dredges, scoop nets, scap nets, seines, trap nets, fyke nets, crab traps, gill nets, trammel nets, set lines, long lines, hook and line if such fishing is conducted for commercial purposes, minnow seines, minnow traps, eel pots, fish pots, pound nets, throw nets or similar devices and any equipment listed as commercial fishing gear in regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection.

(9) “Commercial hatchery” means an institution or place where legally acquired fish are held, hatched and reared for sale or where fish so acquired or hatched are reared or held for sale in waters which are under complete control of the owner.

(10) “Daily bag, catch or creel limit” means the quantity or number of wildlife allowed to be taken during the period from 12:01 a.m. to 12:00 midnight as provided by this chapter or by regulations made by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection.

(11) “Grouse” includes ruffed grouse, partridge and spruce grouse.

(12) “Hunting” means pursuing, shooting, killing and capturing any bird, quadruped or reptile and attempting to pursue, shoot, kill and capture any bird, quadruped or reptile, whether such act results in taking or not, including any act of assistance to any other person in taking or attempting to take any such animal.

(13) “Quadruped” means any four-legged animal which is ferae naturae or wild by nature, although such animal may be enclosed and considered a pet or semidomesticated, but shall exclude purely domesticated animals.

(14) “Pickerel” means the chain pickerel (Esox niger), not the dwarf species referred to variously as the banded pickerel (Esox americanus), grass pike, grass pickerel, mud pike or brook pickerel.

(15) “Private waters” means a natural or artificial pond or lake to which the owner, not a corporation, partnership or voluntary association, has exclusive right of access, of which water supply all sources are located substantially within the property of the owner, to which fish do not have access from waters not under the control of such owner or from water stocked at the expense of the state, except that a natural or artificial pond five acres or less in extent may be owned by an individual, a corporation, partnership or voluntary association and, when meeting the other requirements of this subsection, such pond may be registered as private waters.

(16) “Regulated species” means the following species or species groups: Bait species, crustacea, finfish, horseshoe crabs, sea scallops, squid or whelk.

(17) “Seafood dealer” means (A) a person, firm or corporation, other than the ultimate consumer, who purchases, ships, consigns, transfers, transports, barters, accepts or packs any regulated species, except bait species directly from a commercial fisherman for resale, or (B) a commercial fisherman who sells, ships, consigns, transfers or barters his or her own catch of such species to anyone other than a seafood dealer.

(18) “Set line” means a line fastened between two points, to which is attached a number of smaller lines with hooks attached, but a single line not personally attended may constitute a set line.

(19) “Sport fishing” means taking or attempting to take any regulated species whether from salt, brackish or fresh water by any method other than by commercial methods specified by law and regulations of the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection for commercial purposes.

(20) “Taking” means shooting, pursuing, hunting, fishing, killing, capturing, trapping, snaring, hooking and netting any species of wildlife and attempting to shoot, pursue, hunt, fish, kill, capture, trap, snare, hook, net or catch any species of wildlife or any act of assistance to any other person in taking or attempting to take such wildlife whether or not such act results in the capture of any such wildlife.

(21) “Trapping” means pursuing, killing and capturing by use of any trap, snare, net or other device any bird or wild or domestic quadruped, excluding rats, mice, moles and reptiles, whether such act results in taking or not, including any act of assistance to any other person in taking or attempting to take any such animal by any such method.

(22) “Trout and salmon” includes brook trout or speckled trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, lake trout, Atlantic salmon, kokanee or sockeye salmon, coho salmon, chinook salmon or any hybrid of any two or more of these species.

(23) “Wildlife” means all species of invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals which are ferae naturae or wild by nature.

(1949 Rev., S. 4846, 4962; 1949, S. 2438d; 1953, S. 2440d; 1955, S. 2439d, 2539d; 1957, P.A. 504, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 152, 207; P.A. 75-274, S. 1, 2; P.A. 79-293, S. 1, 6; P.A. 85-53, S. 1; P.A. 94-110, S. 1; P.A. 00-196, S. 54; P.A. 04-97, S. 1; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 13-83, S. 1; P.A. 15-52, S. 1.)

History: 1971 act replaced reference to board of fisheries and game with reference to commissioner of environmental protection in Subdiv. (15) and repealed Subdiv. (4) which had defined that board; P.A. 75-274 redefined “bait species” to include “fish, frogs, crustaceans and insects” rather than “fish listed as minnows ... and frogs, crayfish, perchbugs and helgramites”, deleted redundant references to “black” in definition of “black bass” and included salmon in same definition as trout; P.A. 79-293 added definitions of “commercial fisherman” and “commercial fishing gear”, renumbering accordingly and redefining “commercial fishing” to reflect inclusion of new terms; P.A. 85-53 included reptiles and amphibians in definition of “animal” in Subdiv. (1) and made a technical change in Subdiv. (21); P.A. 94-110 redefined “commercial fishing”, “commercial fishing gear” and “sport fishing” to include taking of sea scallops, squid and horseshoe crabs, further amended definition of “commercial fishing gear” to include taking by sea scallop dredges and hook and line and redefined “taking” to include fishing and hooking; P.A. 00-196 deleted “purse seines” in Subdiv. (8); P.A. 04-97 added new Subdiv. (16) defining “seafood dealer” and redesignated existing Subdivs. (16) to (21) as new Subdivs. (17) to (22), respectively, effective May 10, 2004; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-83 amended Subdiv. (3) to make technical changes, effective June 5, 2013; P.A. 15-52 amended Subdiv. (7) to redefine “commercial fishing”, amended Subdiv. (8) to redefine “commercial fishing gear”, added new Subdiv. (16) defining “regulated species”, redesignated existing Subdivs. (16) to (22) as Subdivs. (17) to (23), amended redesignated Subdiv. (17) to redefine “seafood dealer” and amended redesignated Subdiv. (19) to redefine “sport fishing”, effective January 1, 2016.

Cited. 226 C. 265.