Alabama Administrative Code
Title 220 - ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Chapter 220-2 - GAME AND FISH DIVISION
Section 220-2-.49 - Size Restrictions On Freshwater Mussels Or Their Shells
It is hereby made illegal for any person or persons to take, catch, kill, buy, possess or transport for commercial purposes freshwater mussels or any type of freshwater bivalved mollusca listed below or the shells of such mussels or bivalved mollusca, less than the following sizes in diameter:
Washboard (Megalonaias nervosa)........ 4 inches
Threeridge (Amblema plicata)........... 2 5/8 inches
Pistol Grip (Tritogonia verrucosa) .... 2 5/8 inches
Elephant Ear (Elliptio crassidens)..... 2 5/8 inches
Mapleleaf (Quadrula quadrula).......... 2 5/8 inches
Ebony Shell (Fusconaia ebenus)......... 2 3/8 inches
Pink Heel Splitter (Potamilus alatus).. 4 inches
Three Horn (Obliquaria reflexa)........ 1 3/4 inches
Southern Mapleleaf (Quadrula apiculata) 2 5/8 inches
Bankclimber (Plectomerus dombeyanus) 3 inches
Bleufer (Potamilus purpuratus) 3 inches;
With the exception of Asiatic Clam Corbicula harvested from below the full pool elevation of impounded waters. All mussels or their shells less than the legal diameter must be immediately released and placed back in the waters from whence they came with the least possible injury. Mussels or their shells shall be measured from their dorsal to ventral surfaces by passing or attempting to pass the mussel or mussel shell by the weight of the mussel or mussel shell through a ring of the appropriate inside diameter. There shall be no allowance for undersize mussels or their shells.
Author: M. Barnett Lawley
Statutory Authority: Code of Ala. 1975, §§ 9-2-7, 9-2-8, 9-2-12, 9-11-371.
PENALTY: As provided by law.