Each person who plants or cultivates oysters, clams or mussels, in any place lawfully designated, shall own them and also all other oysters, clams or mussels on such place, and have the exclusive right of taking up and disposing of them and of using such place for the purpose of planting or cultivating oysters, clams or mussels therein, which place shall be transferable by written assignment; but nothing herein contained shall affect the rights of any owner of lands in which there may be saltwater creeks or inlets, or which may be opposite or contiguous to such navigable waters; nor authorize any shellfish commission or selectmen to designate, nor any person to mark, stake out or enclose, any natural oyster or clam bed, or infringe upon the free navigation of such waters, or interfere with the drawing of seines in any place established and customarily used for seine fishing.
(1949 Rev., S. 5084; P.A. 86-225, S. 9.)
History: P.A. 86-225 transferred functions from oyster-ground committees to shellfish commissions.
To dig shellfish between high and low water marks is a common right. 5 D. 22. Riparian owner may wharf or channel. 62 C. 139. Cited. 112 C. 214; 177 C. 287.
When one has franchise to oyster ground, town liable for damage it causes by laying sewer pipes. 12 CS 135.
Structure Connecticut General Statutes
Chapter 492 - Local Shellfisheries
Section 26-238. - Town oyster ground committee.
Section 26-239. - Certain grants of oyster, clam and mussel grounds valid.
Section 26-240. - Town ground; designation; designation requirements and prohibitions; hearing.
Section 26-241. - Name of owner to appear on stakes, buoys and markers. Buoy specifications.
Section 26-242. - Granting of designation; condition precedent.
Section 26-243. - Evidence of designation to be recorded.
Section 26-244. - Lost title; redesignation. Penalty.
Section 26-245. - Fees of shellfish commissions.
Section 26-246. - Designation of disputed lines in local jurisdiction.
Section 26-247. - Removal of beds improperly staked.
Section 26-248. - Procedure to dam creek or inlet.
Section 26-249. - Private ownership in cultivated shellfish.
Section 26-250. - Taxation of town ground.
Section 26-251. - Natural clam beds not to be designated.
Section 26-252. - Taking of hard or round clams; size.
Section 26-253. - Trespass on designated ground.
Section 26-256. - Injury to pond gates and dams.
Section 26-257. - Local shellfish grounds under state control.
Section 26-257a. - Local shellfish commissions.
Section 26-258. - Location of local natural clam or oyster beds.
Section 26-259. - Maps to be lodged in town clerk's office.
Section 26-260. - Selectmen of Milford and West Haven may prohibit the taking of clams.
Section 26-261. - Taking of clams from Oyster River in West Haven and Milford.
Section 26-262. - Taking of oysters from natural ground in Milford.
Section 26-266. - Shellfisheries in Branford. Grants. Requirements and prohibitions of grants.
Section 26-276. - Hammonasset River; limitation.
Section 26-277. - Clinton and Madison; special constables.
Section 26-278. - Jurisdiction of special constables.
Section 26-279. - Madison; town rights.
Section 26-280. - Taking of shellfish at Saugatuck Shores in Westport.
Section 26-284. - Thames River oysters; limitation.
Section 26-285. - Taking of oysters and clams in Old Lyme regulated.
Section 26-286. - Taking oysters from the inland waters of East Lyme and Waterford.
Section 26-287. - Waterford-East Lyme shellfish commission. Taking of shellfish from Niantic River.
Section 26-289. - Dredging for escallops in Little Narragansett Bay or Stonington Harbor.
Section 26-290. - Taking of escallops in Groton.
Section 26-291. - Taking of oysters and clams in Stonington.
Section 26-291a. - Taking of clams and oysters in Stonington.
Section 26-292. - Taking of escallops in the waters of Stonington.
Section 26-292b. - Hand-harvesting horseshoe crabs in the town of Stratford. Prohibition. Violation.
Section 26-292c. - Recommendations for horseshoe crab taking restricted areas.