Bill 1110

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               1110
Ratification Number:       556
Act Number                 497
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Records and reports of Department of
                           Wildlife and Marine Resources' licenses

(A497, R556, S1110)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 50--530, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO MONTHLY REPORTS OF LICENSEES TO THE DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE AND MARINE RESOURCES, SO AS TO SPECIFICALLY REQUIRE THE COMPILATION OF INFORMATION, DATA, RECORDS, AND ACCOUNTS, TO REQUIRE THE REPORTS TO BE MADE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE AND MARINE RESOURCES, AND TO PROVIDE PENALTIES.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Records and reports of Wildlife and Marine Resources' licenses

SECTION 1. Section 50--530 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 50-530. The Department of Wildlife and Marine Resources may require any person licensed or permitted under this chapter to keep records and provide information and reports necessary for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter and the management of coastal fishery resources. The department has concurrent authority within the United States to collect and require the submission of pertinent data specified for submission to the Secretary of Commerce of the United States, or his designee, pursuant to the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. The department may collect and require the submission of additional pertinent data for fisheries covered by a fisheries management plan or for which a management plan is being considered which the department considers reasonable and necessary for management purposes.

The information, data, and reports required pursuant to the provisions of this section must be provided on forms supplied to the licensee and by methods developed and supplied by the department. The records must be used only for the equitable and efficient administration and enforcement of applicable state law or departmental regulations or for determining fishery management policy. Any information which directly or indirectly discloses the identity of a licensee is exempted from the provisions of the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act. Such information is confidential and may not be disclosed except when required by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, but the department may release all or any part of information collected under authority of this section to the Secretary of Commerce of the United States, or his designee, for purposes of fisheries management. The department may compile statistical information in any nonconfidential aggregate or summary form which becomes a public record.

Every person engaged in the harvesting, buying, packing, wholesaling, or processing of saltwater fishery resources for which South Carolina is the original port of landing shall keep accurate records, books, or accounts of the information required by the department and shall make the records, books, or accounts open to the department for inspection.

The records, accounts, and reports which licensees are required to make, keep, exhibit, and provide may include data and information pertaining to the number, capacity, capability, and type of fishing vessels owned and operated, the type and quantity of fishing gear used, the catch of fish or other seafood by species in numbers, size, and weight, the areas in which the fishing occurred, the location of the catch, the length of time engaged in fishing, the number of hauls, drags, or sets, and the disposition of the fish and other seafood.

Any person licensed or permitted under this chapter who fails to keep accurate records or make the reports required by the department or violates any other provision of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction,

must be fined not more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days. Each month of delay in transmitting the reports constitutes a separate offense, and after three convictions, the department shall revoke the license or permit under which the reports are required and deny the issuance of another license or permit for a period of twelve months following the date of the third conviction. Any person who fails to keep or knowingly falsifies any records required under this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished as provided in Section 16-9-10."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.