2012 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes
Title 30 - FISH
Chapter 73 - Shad Fishing in Delaware River and Bay
Section 7301 - Legislative findings and declarations

                                CHAPTER 73
                  SHAD FISHING IN DELAWARE RIVER AND BAY

     Sec.
     7301.  Legislative findings and declarations.
     7302.  Delaware River and Bay defined.
     7303.  Interstate cooperation.
     7304.  Permitted nets and devices.
     7305.  Season and lift period.
     7306.  License required for catching shad with nets.
     7307.  Limitations on issuance of license.
     7308.  Issuance of additional licenses.
     7309.  License fees.
     7310.  Records and reports by licensees.
     7311.  Transfer of license.
     7312.  Withdrawal of licenses issued in prior year.
     7313.  Suspension or revocation of license.
     7314.  Penalty.

        Enactment.  Chapter 73 was added October 16, 1980, P.L.996,
     No.175, effective in 90 days.
     § 7301.  Legislative findings and declarations.
        The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
            (1)  Since fish at large in the waters of this
        Commonwealth are a natural resource, protection and
        conservation of this resource in the public interest is the
        obligation of the Commonwealth.
            (2)  The shad which inhabit the waters of the Delaware
        River system constitute a potentially valuable source of food
        and raw materials and, under proper management, are capable
        of producing a constant and abundant harvest without
        depletion of the species and consequent shortages of supply.
        The important shad fishery of the Delaware River has been
        depleted so that the actual harvest is far below the
        potential yield of this resource which at one time yielded as
        much as 16,000,000 fish yearly but in recent years has
        yielded only a few hundred thousand pounds. This depletion
        has caused a denial to the consuming public of a constant and
        adequate supply of these vitamin rich foods within a
        reasonable price range that consistent and abundant supply
        would make possible, and has caused decline and instability
        in the fishing industry in this river system. The restoration
        of this species in the Delaware River has become an
        enterprise of vast economic importance to this Commonwealth.
            (3)  It is a matter of public interest and for the public
        welfare and health for the Commonwealth to take such measures
        as are necessary to control the intensity of fishing pressure
        in order that the restoration of this valuable species may be
        accomplished and that the species may attain the maximum
        sustained yield consistent with the preservation of an
        adequate brood stock. Legislative limitation of the size of
        the mesh of nets, size limits and other like measures are not
        effective in conserving this species.
            (4)  In accordance with the purposes of the Atlantic
        States Marine Fisheries Compact to which this Commonwealth is
        a party and in order to carry out the policy of the
        Commonwealth as it relates to the shad inhabiting the waters
        of the Delaware River and in order to restore this depleted
        fishery, it is necessary, proper and expedient to establish a
        system of licensing designed to control increases in the
        intensity of fishing pressure so that increases in fishing
        pressure will be brought into balance with the population of
        shad in the Delaware, to the end that the shad fisheries of
        the waters of the Delaware River and its tributaries will be
        restored and will produce the maximum sustained yield
        consistent with the conservation of that species. Since the
        stabilization of fishing operations is an activity promoting
        the public interest, the payment of license fees and the
        imposing and controlling of the restrictive provisions of
        this chapter upon the general public is an equitable
        contribution on its part arising from the privileges of
        harvesting this natural resource.