Virginia Del. Hillary Pugh Kent, representing Virginia’s Northern Neck and Caroline County in House District 67, has announced that Gov. Glenn Youngkin has signed into law “The Right to Fish” bill, (House Bill 928) to protect commercial watermen from interference, which she sponsored.
Del. Kent stated that “this bill recognizes the importance of our state’s seafood industry by creating protections for commercial watermen and deterring unlawful interference.”
“This new law will provide restitution against those who purposefully inhibit fishing and destroy the property of commercial watermen,” she said. “It will reinforce the continued viability of our fishing and seafood industries, which are necessary to the economic and cultural fabric of the Northern Neck and all of the commonwealth.”
The bill passed, 38-1, by the Senate, and, 99-0, by the House and was signed by the speaker of the House on March 5 and president of the Senate on March 7.
The bill increases penalties for harassing watermen to a Class I misdemeanor which is confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.
The Class 1 misdemeanor is for any person who knowingly and intentionally interferes with or impedes the operation of commercial fishing activity of a commercial fishing vessel within the territorial waters of the Commonwealth.
The bill also deems a person to be ineligible for any hunting or fishing license for a period of one year upon a first conviction of this offense…
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