Illinois Code § 5-5

§ 5-5.

Ownership and title; violations; penalties. The ownership of and title to all aquatic life within the boundaries of the State, are hereby declared to be in the State, and no aquatic life shall be taken or killed, in any manner or at any time, unless the person or persons so taking or killing the aquatic life shall consent that the title to the aquatic life shall be and remain in the State for the purpose of regulating the taking, killing, possession, use, sale, and transportation of aquatic life after taking or killing, as set forth in this Code. Aquatic products, including any aquatic plants and animals or their by-products that are produced, grown, managed, harvested and marketed on an annual, semi-annual, biennial or short-term basis, in permitted aquaculture facilities, bred, hatched, propagated, or raised by the owner of a body of water, with the consent of the Department of Natural Resources through the issuance of an aquaculture permit and consistent with this Section, in permitted aquaculture facilities in or on that body of water are the property of the person who bred, hatched, propagated, or raised them or that person's successor in interest. Ownership of aquatic products reverts to the State upon revocation or expiration of an aquaculture permit as prescribed by administrative rule. If any person causes any waste, sewage, thermal effluent, or any other pollutant to enter into, or causes or allows pollution of, any waters of this State so as to kill aquatic life, the Department, through the Attorney General, may bring an action against that person and recover the value of and the related costs in determining the value of the aquatic life destroyed by the waste, sewage, thermal effluent, or pollution. Any money so recovered shall be placed into the Wildlife and Fish Fund in the State Treasury. If any person shall abandon, deposit, or otherwise place any wire, can, bottle, glass, paper, trash, rubbish, cardboard, wood cartons, boxes, trees, parts of trees, brush, or other insoluble material, including animal or vegetable material, into the waters or upon the ice of any waters of this State, or in any place on the bank of waters of this State where it shall be liable to be washed into the waters either by storms, floods, or other causes, the person shall be in violation of the offense of polluting. Employees of the Department, however, may place or direct the placement, in the waters of the State, of insoluble materials deemed suitable for the purposes of enhancing aquatic habitat. Any person who shall be found guilty under this Section shall be guilty of a petty offense, and the Court shall further order that the guilty person shall employ every practical means of removing the debris within a time specified by the Court. Failure to comply with an order under this Section shall constitute a Class B misdemeanor. (Source: P.A. 102-555, eff. 1-1-22.)