CHAP. 121.--An ACT to establish a closed season for menhaden fishing, to prescribe the size of the mesh to be used in said fishing, and to provide a penalty for the violation of this act.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to take or catch in the waters of the Commonwealth of Virginia, or waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Virginia, men-haden fish to be manufactured into oil, fish scrap or manure, between the first day of December and the last Monday in May of each year.

2. That from and after the first day of September, in the year nineteen hundred and fifteen, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to use, in the waters of the Commonwealth of Virginia, or waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Virginia, for the purpose of taking or catching menhaden fish to be manufactured into oil, fish scrap or manure, any purse net or other net having, when manufactured, made or knit, a mesh less than two inches.

3. Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars for each offense.

4. It being deemed expedient that the provisions of this law making a closed season for menhaden fishing shall apply to the coming season, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act shall take effect from its passage.