11-1703 - Importation, possession and sale of fish without license or permit; prohibitions.
§ 11-1703. Importation, possession and sale of fish without license or permit; prohibitions. 1. Except as provided in subdivision 3 and subdivision 4; (a) all species of fish taken outside the state, except trout, black bass, muskellunge and landlocked salmon other than Atlantic salmon, may be imported and transported by any means and in any number, and may be possessed, bought and sold without permit or license, during the open season; (b) Atlantic salmon taken outside the state may be imported, transported, bought and sold at any time. 2. Except as provided in subdivision 3 and subdivision 4, any person may, during the closed season, without license or permit, and without limitation by section 11-1707, transport into the state, buy, possess, transport and sell, lake sturgeon, lake trout, whitefish, pickerel, pike, walleye and striped bass taken outside the state, provided he keeps a record and enters therein the name, residence and post office address of every person from whom he buys and every person to whom he sells or ships such fish. But this subdivision does not require that a record be kept of persons to whom such fish are sold for personal or home consumption, nor by persons who purchase in this state for consumption and not for resale. A person required by this subdivision to keep records shall permit the department or its agents to examine all books and papers relating to such purchase and sale at any time and shall on demand furnish invoices, freight or express receipts used in such transactions. 3. a. No person shall sell, offer for sale or expose for sale, under the name or designation of Lake Champlain fish, any fish other than fish that have been taken from the waters of Lake Champlain, its bays, coves or tributaries, the Missisquoi Bay or the Richelieu River. No person shall wilfully and with intent to deceive, affix, apply or annex, or use in connection with any fish, or any container of the same, any words or other symbols, tending falsely to identify the origin of the contents as the waters described in this paragraph. b. No person shall possess or transport into the state any fish except eels caught in that part of Missisquoi Bay in Lake Champlain lying in the Province of Quebec or in the Richelieu River. 4. Fish of the following species taken outside the state shall not be bought or sold or otherwise trafficked in if they are of less than the size limits specified in this subdivision or in the sections to which it refers: a. striped bass, fluke or summer flounder, blue porgie, weakfish, mackerel, sea bass, king fish, cod fish, blackfish, winter flounder, all as specified in section 13-0339; b. lake trout, pickerel, Atlantic sturgeon, Atlantic (landlocked) salmon, whitefish, northern pike, all as specified in regulations of the department. 5. Fish named in subdivision 4 of less than the size limits specified, may be imported, transported and possessed as provided in section 11-1707. 6. No person shall import, export, own, possess, acquire or dispose of live piranha fish (Serrasalmus, Rooseveltiella or Pyrocentrus), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) or hybrid grass carp within the state without a license or permit issued at the discretion of the department for scientific, biological or exhibition purposes. 7. Fish, except those specified in subdivision 6 of this section, may be imported and transported at any time, for propagation purposes, and the provisions of section 11-1707 do not apply.