(a) Except for normal harvesting activities, the dredging and transplanting of oyster shell or seed oysters as part of the Department's Oyster Propagation Program, or as authorized in a State wetlands license, a person may not destroy, damage, or injure any oyster bar, reef, rock, or other area located on a natural oyster bar in the Chesapeake Bay that is not a leased oyster bottom.

(b) Any person who destroys, damages, or injures any oyster bar, reef, rock, or other area referred to in subsection (a) of this section is liable to the State in a civil action, as the Department considers appropriate, for the restoration of, mitigation of, or monetary damages for any destruction, damage, or injury that the person causes to resources on the natural oyster bar.