Bill > S472

Introduced Session

This bill would specify that a fishing license is not required in order for a resident of a private community, or the authorized guests thereof, to take fish from a private community lake in the resident's community. "Private community lake" is defined by the bill to mean: "a manmade, self-contained body of water that is located on land owned by a private community, and which body of water is under the exclusive control of community members or residents, and is stocked and maintained at their sole expense." Although current statutory law provides that a person must obtain a fishing license in order to engage in fishing activities on the "waters of this State," it also specifies that "[a]ll ponds, lakes and waters created by or under the exclusive control of any individuals or associations, stocked and maintained at their sole expense and not runways for migratory fish shall be considered private waters" (emphasis added), rather than "waters of this [S]tate." Apparently, however, the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) does not interpret the current law in this regard as providing an exemption from the State's fishing licensure requirements for persons who are engaged in authorized fishing activities at a private community lake, as defined above. As a result, and in order to prevent the future issuance by DFW of citations to such persons for unlicensed fishing, this bill would add a provision to the State's fishing licensure law in order to clearly specify that a fishing license is not required for these authorized persons to fish at a private community lake.

AI Summary

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Jim Holzapfel (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document