On March 30, Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) charged Hans E. Kuntze, 49, of Mardela Springs and Thomas P. Richardson, 41 of Quantico with with a handscrape on submerged lands reserved for handtonging.
The two were harvesting oysters in the Nanticoke Harbor area of the Nanticoke River. NRP seized the handscrape as evidence and returned the 6 bushels of oysters onboard the vessel back to the waters of the state.
A handscrape is a dredge tool with a short catching bar used for extracting or removing shellfish from a water bottom or the bed of a body of water; it is cast and hauled by hand without the aide of a winch, winder or spool.
It is illegal to use a handscrape to harvest oysters in Maryland. In the past, oyster poachers were known to use a handscrape at night to harvest oysters from privately owned beds.