Every person taking any seed scallops, and failing to restore them as soon as possible to their natural beds in the water from which taken, shall be fined not less than twenty dollars ($20.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) or be imprisoned not exceeding thirty (30) days, or both, for each offense. For the purpose of this chapter, a "seed scallop" means a scallop with a bright, thin, slightly curved shell with no foreign adherent, the shell having no well-defined raised annual growth line, and the scallop being less than one year old.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 20-6-17