SB 287

Under current law, no person may place a structure upon the bed of any

navigable water where no bulkhead line has been established or beyond a lawfully

established bulkhead line unless the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has

issued an individual or general permit allowing the structure. Certain structures,

including a fish crib intended to improve fish habitat, certain piers and wharves, and

a biological shore erosion control structure, are exempted from these permitting

requirements if they are not in an area of special natural resource interest and do

not interfere with riparian rights.

This bill requires DNR to issue a statewide general permit that authorizes a

person to place a net pen in a navigable water as long as the net pen meets certain

conditions. The bill defines a net pen as an enclosure placed in a body of water and

used to hold or rear fish. The bill specifies that a person may place a net pen only

for noncommercial purposes. The fish must be stocked, and released into the water,

by DNR or by a person who has a fish stocking permit. Finally, the bill requires that

the fish held or reared in the net pen be released into the same body of water into

which the net pen is placed. The bill specifies that the general permit may not

authorize the placement of a net pen for a period of more than eight weeks and

provides that the general permit may not limit the number of times that a person

may place a net pen in the waters of this state.

Under current law, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer

Protection (DATCP) administers laws regulating fish farms. A fish farm is a facility

at which a person hatches fish eggs or rears fish for the purpose of introduction into

the waters of the state or for various other purposes including human or animal

consumption. Current law requires most persons who bring fish or fish eggs into this

state for the purpose of introduction into the waters of this state to obtain a permit

from DATCP. Current law also requires a person who operates a fish farm to

annually register the fish farm with DATCP.

This bill exempts a person who is authorized under a general permit to place

a net pen in the waters of this state from obtaining a permit from DATCP or

registering that net pen with DATCP as a fish farm. The bill provides that after the

date on which fish are placed in a net pen under the authority of a general permit,

DATCP's authority to regulate fish farms does not apply to fish held in that net pen.

Current law generally prohibits a person from using a natural body of water as

a fish farm unless the land that is riparian to the body of water is owned, leased, or

controlled by the owners of the fish farm and the body of water is a freeze-out pond,

a preexisting fish rearing facility, or a body of water for which DNR has issued a

permit for certain other navigable waters activities. This bill creates an exemption

to this prohibition against using a natural body of water as a fish farm. Under the

bill, the exemption applies to a person who places a net pen under the authority of

a general permit issued by DNR.