SB 493

This bill makes various changes to the regulation of aquaculture and fish farms.

Wetland permits

Under current law, no person may discharge dredged material or fill material

into a wetland unless the discharge is authorized by a wetland general permit or

individual permit issued by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). An

individual permit is issued to a person for a particular discharge that is not covered

under a general permit. A general permit is issued for certain categories of

discharges, including a discharge that is part of a development for agricultural

purposes if the discharge does not affect more than 10,000 square feet of wetland.

This bill adds aquacultural purposes to this category of discharge.

This bill also exempts normal aquaculture activities, if the discharge is to a

wetland that has been created for aquacultural purposes, and the construction or

maintenance of ponds or roads used in fish farms from the requirement to obtain an

individual or general wetland permit.

Current law requires an applicant for an individual wetland permit to submit

to DNR an analysis of the practicable alternatives to the proposed discharge that will

avoid and minimize the discharge's adverse impacts on the wetland and that will not

result in any other significant adverse environmental consequences. The bill creates

an exemption to this requirement if the application is for a permit authorizing a

discharge from a fish farm.

Current law specifies that DNR must require wetland mitigation for each

wetland individual permit that it issues. A person may conduct wetland mitigation

by the use of various methods, including purchasing credits from a mitigation bank

or completing mitigation within the same watershed or within one-half mile of the

site of the discharge. This bill requires DNR to consider wetlands created in the

ordinary course of a fish farm's operation when determining whether the facility has

completed wetland mitigation within the same watershed or within one-half mile of

the site of the discharge.

The bill also provides that, if DNR considers whether proposed activities are

water or wetland dependent when determining whether to issue a wetland

individual permit, DNR must regard a fish farm's activities as water or wetland

dependent.

Natural bodies of water used as fish farms

The bill expands the category of natural bodies of water that may be used as

part of a fish farm to include a spring that provides water to an artificial water body

that is used as a fish farm. Under current law, a natural body of water may be used

as a fish farm or part of a fish farm only if the water body is a freeze-out pond, a

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

permit. The bill defines "natural body of water" as a spring, stream, pond, lake, or

wetland that was historically present in a natural state but may have been