Sec. 22-11h. Permits for aquaculture operations. Exemptions from environmental protection programs. General permits.
Sec. 22-11h. Permits for aquaculture operations. Exemptions from environmental protection programs. General permits. (a) The Department of Agriculture
shall have exclusive authority for granting or denying aquaculture permits, except for
matters specifically concerning water discharges from such aquaculture operations into
the waters of the state, which shall require approval by the Department of Environmental
Protection as provided in section 22a-430. The department shall not consider discharges
from aquaculture operations to be industrial discharges and shall treat and administer
applications and permits from aquaculture operations as separate and distinct from permits for industrial discharges for the purposes of section 22a-430. Within ninety days
of receipt of a sufficient application for a discharge permit for an aquaculture operation
under section 22a-430 the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, or a designee,
shall meet with the applicant and the Commissioner of Agriculture, or a designee, to
discuss such application.
(b) Aquaculture operations that withdraw less than two hundred fifty thousand gallons per day of water, where such water is not approved for human consumption, and
where water so withdrawn is returned to the same source from which it was withdrawn,
shall be deemed not to be a diversion as defined in section 22a-367 and shall be exempt
from the water diversion permitting requirements of chapter 446i.
(c) Individual structures used for aquaculture as defined in section 22-11c, including, but not limited to, racks, cages or bags, as well as buoys marking such structures,
which do not otherwise require a permit under federal Army Corps of Engineers regulations and do not interfere with navigation in designated or customary boating or shipping
lanes and channels, shall be placed in leased or designated shellfish areas and shall be
exempt from the requirements of sections 22a-359 to 22a-363f, inclusive.
(d) Transport of live aquaculture products from any licensed and approved aquaculture operation or hatchery within the state, and stocking of such products in the waters
of the state, where such aquaculture products are species which are indigenous to the
state and are approved for stocking by the Department of Agriculture, shall be exempt
from the requirements of section 26-57, except that any person engaging in such transport and stocking shall obtain a renewable annual transport permit which shall govern
all shipments for a calendar year designated under such permit. Such permit shall be
developed and administered by the Department of Environmental Protection. Aquaculture hatcheries maintained by the Department of Environmental Protection shall be
exempt from the provisions of this subsection.
(e) All shellfish aquaculture operations that utilize state-approved microalgal cultured feeds or which do not use any processed cultured feed, and all crustacean and
molluscan bivalve growing, hatchery and holding facilities, including, but not limited
to, lobster pounds, which are not exempt from requirements to obtain a discharge permit
under section 22a-430 or corresponding federal regulations, may operate under a general
permit developed by the Department of Environmental Protection and shall not be required to obtain individual discharge permits under section 22a-430. On or before September 15, 1999, said Department of Environmental Protection shall adopt and implement such general permit.
(P.A. 99-93, S. 1, 6; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 146(e), (f); P.A. 04-189, S. 1.)
History: P.A. 99-93 effective June 3, 1999; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 replaced Commissioner and Department of
Agriculture with Commissioner and Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-189 repealed Sec. 146 of June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, thereby reversing the merger of the Departments of Agriculture and
Consumer Protection, effective June 1, 2004.