Any person desiring to procure a license for the purpose of engaging in the business of selling minnows and nongame fish for bait or taking minnows and nongame fish from the streams of this state for the purpose of sale to others shall apply to the state game commission for a license. The application shall be upon forms provided by the commission and shall set forth the public streams or waters out of which the applicant intends to take the minnows and nongame fish and the place at which they are to be sold. The application shall be accompanied by a just and reasonable fee as determined by regulation of the state game commission. Upon receipt of the application, it shall be the duty of the state game commission or, when it is not in session, the director of the department of game and fish to pass upon the application and to issue a license authorizing the taking and the manner of taking of the minnows and nongame fish by the applicant from those waters in the state as in the opinion of the state game commission or director will not be detrimental to the public or injurious to protected fish. The license when so issued shall specify the manner of taking and the waters from which the applicant is permitted to take minnows and nongame fish for sale for bait.

History: Laws 1939, ch. 27, § 2; 1941 Comp., § 43-314; 1953 Comp., § 53-3-20; Laws 1955, ch. 55, § 1; 1992, ch. 29, § 4.

The 1992 amendment, effective April 1, 1992, added the present section catchline; in the text, substituted the present third sentence for the former third and fourth sentences, relating to a fee of $20 and a bond of $1,000, in the present fourth sentence, deleted "and bond" following "the application" and inserted "of the department of game and fish"; and made stylistic changes.

This license fee is a regulatory measure rather than a revenue gathering device. 1965 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 65-18.

County or municipal licenses are not precluded. — The licensing of bait sellers, under this section, is not a preemption of the field so as to preclude licensing by the county or a municipality of the same business enterprise. 1959 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 59-32.