§109.4. Use of airboats on the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area

            A. Use of airboats on the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area shall be limited to airboat trails. Such trails shall be established by rules and regulations promulgated by the commission, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, where airboat operation is feasible and in a manner to best protect public safety and wildlife resources and habitats. An airboat trail shall be established only on trails or rights of way existing as of February 1, 2018. Such rules and regulations shall also include the following:

            (1) Require the exhaust of any internal combustion engine used on any airboat operated on airboat trails be equipped with an automotive-style factory muffler, underwater exhaust, or other manufactured device capable of adequately muffling the sound of the exhaust of the engine.

            (2) Limit the size of the internal combustion engine of any airboat operated on airboat trails to no greater than three hundred fifty-one cubic inches.

            (3) Require every person using an airboat trail to possess a WMA hunting permit, to notify the department annually of the airboat's registration number, and to make such airboat available for inspection by department personnel.

            (4) Prohibit the use of established airboat trails by airboats between September first and the following January thirty-first.

            B. A violation of the provisions of this Section, or rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this Section, shall constitute a class one violation. Additionally, any person who violates the provisions of this Section, or rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to this Section, three times within a ten-year period shall be prohibited from operating an airboat on any wildlife management area.

            C. The provisions of this Section shall terminate and be null and void on August 1, 2019, and thereafter.

            Acts 2018, No. 618, §1.