Sec. 436.011. PROHIBITED ACTS. The following acts and the causing of the following acts within this state are unlawful and prohibited:

(1) taking, selling, offering for sale, or holding for sale molluscan shellfish from a closed area;

(2) taking, selling, offering for sale, or holding for sale molluscan shellfish from a restricted or conditionally restricted area without complying with a department rule to ensure that the molluscan shellfish have been purified, unless:

(A) permission is first obtained from the Parks and Wildlife Department and the transplanting is supervised by that department; and

(B) the Parks and Wildlife Department furnishes a copy of the transplant permit to the department before transplanting activities begin;

(3) possessing a species of aquatic life taken from a prohibited area while the area was prohibited for that species;

(4) operating as a molluscan shellfish processor without a shellfish certificate for each plant or place of business;

(5) operating as a crabmeat processor without a crabmeat processing license for each plant;

(6) selling, offering for sale, or holding for sale molluscan shellfish or crabmeat that has not been picked, handled, packaged, or pasteurized in accordance with department rules;

(7) selling, offering for sale, or holding for sale molluscan shellfish or crabmeat from facilities for the handling and packaging of molluscan shellfish or crabmeat that do not comply with department rules;

(8) selling, offering for sale, or holding for sale molluscan shellfish or crabmeat that is not labeled in accordance with department rules;

(9) selling, offering for sale, or holding for sale molluscan shellfish that is not in a container bearing a valid certificate number from a state or nation whose molluscan shellfish certification program conforms to the current National Shellfish Sanitation Program Guide for the Control of Molluscan Shellfish issued by the Food and Drug Administration or its successor, except selling molluscan shellfish removed from a container bearing a valid certificate number for on-premises consumption; in the event the Texas Molluscan Shellfish Program is found to be out of conformity with the current guide, selling, offering for sale, or holding for sale molluscan shellfish in a container bearing a valid Texas certificate number shall not be considered a violation of this chapter provided all other requirements of this chapter are complied with and the shellfish have come from an approved source;

(10) processing, transporting, storing for sale, possessing with intent to sell, offering for sale, or selling molluscan shellfish or crabmeat for human consumption that is adulterated or misbranded;

(11) removing or disposing of a detained or embargoed article in violation of Section 436.028;

(12) altering, mutilating, destroying, obliterating, or removing all or part of the labeling of a container;

(13) adulterating or misbranding molluscan shellfish or crabmeat in commerce;

(14) refusing to permit entry or inspection, to permit the taking of a sample, or to permit access to or copying by the department as required by this chapter;

(15) failing to establish or maintain a record or report required by this chapter or by a department rule; or

(16) violating a department rule or order.

Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 336, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.

Amended by:

Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 3.1089, eff. April 2, 2015.