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December 05, 2025 Clear | 13°F
The 194th General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  1. General Laws
  2. Part I ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
  3. Title XIX AGRICULTURE AND CONSERVATION
  4. Chapter 130 MARINE FISH AND FISHERIES
  5. Section 31 Destruction or injury to weir, pound net or fish trap

Section 31

Section 31: Destruction or injury to weir, pound net or fish trap

[ Text of section effective until November 20, 2024. For text effective November 20, 2024, see below.]

  Section 31. No person shall, without the consent of the owner, take, use, destroy, injure or molest a weir, pound net, fish trap, seine, set net or lobster or crab pot or other fishing gear, or a fish car or other contrivance used for the purpose of storing fish, including any such fishing gear which is swept ashore by storm or tide or other natural causes and deposited upon the shore, beaches or flats, whether public or private, or take fish therefrom.

Chapter 130: Section 31. Destruction or injury to fishing gear

[ Text of section as amended by 2024, 238, Sec. 237 effective November 20, 2024. For text effective until November 20, 2024, see above.]

  Section 31. No person shall, without the consent of the owner, take, use, destroy, injure or molest fishing gear. The division, with the approval of the marine fisheries advisory commission and the department, shall promulgate regulations that may authorize or permit the removal of fishing gear debris from the waters under the jurisdiction of the commonwealth and the adjacent coastal shoreline; provided, however, that fishing gear debris collected by the division shall not be subject to chapter 134.