New Jersey Administrative Code|Section 2:89-1.2 - Definitions

                                                
 § 2:89-1.2. Definitions 
 
 The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
 
"Act" means the Aquaculture Development Act, 4:27-1 et seq.
 
"Applicant" means a person who is in or is seeking to enter into aquaculture and who submits an application for a license to the NJDA.
 
"Aquaculture" is a form of agriculture involving the propagation, rearing and subsequent harvesting of aquatic organisms in controlled or selected environments, and the subsequent processing, packaging and marketing, and shall include, but is not limited to, activities to intervene in the rearing process to increase production such as stocking, feeding, transplanting and providing for protection from predators. Aquaculture is a water dependent activity. Aquaculture shall not include the construction of facilities and appurtenant structures that might otherwise be regulated pursuant to any State or Federal law or regulation.
 
"Aquaculture system" means any tank, raceway, contained pond or closed recirculating system or any waters of the State into which aquatic organisms are placed for the purposes of aquaculture.
 
"Aquatic farm" means any leased or privately owned water system and associated facilities and appurtenant structures capable of holding and/or producing cultured aquatic stock. It may also refer to more than one facility and may include both hatchery and grow-out components, multi-species farms, processing, packaging and marketing.
 
"Aquatic farmer" means any person who operates and maintains an aquatic farm.
 
"Aquatic Farmer License" means the formal license issued by the NJDA for the possession and ownership of aquacultured organisms by a person, partnership or corporation.
 
"Aquatic organism" means an animal or plant of any species or hybrid thereof and includes gametes, seeds, eggs, sperm, larvae, juvenile and adult stages any of which is required to be in water during that stage of its life. This definition does not include birds and mammals.
 
"Aquatic species" means any species of fish, mollusk, crustacean, other aquatic invertebrate, amphibian, reptile or aquatic plant but is not limited to fish and fishes.
 
"Closed system" means an aquatic farm with discharges that do not connect in any way to the waters of the State prior to filtration or percolation in order to prevent cultured aquatic stock from escaping and generally recirculates its system discharges.
 
"Cultured aquatic stock" means privately owned aquatic organisms lawfully acquired, held and grown in an aquatic farm.
 
"Department" or "NJDA" means the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
 
"Fee fishing" means paying a fee to engage in the removal of cultured, licensed aquatic stock from a farm for recreation or sporting purposes.
 
"Native species" means any species of any plant or animal that naturally occurs in the water of the State and is capable of surviving in the wild for 12 consecutive months.
 
"NJDEP" means the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
 
"NJDHSS" means the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
 
"Non-native species" means any species of plant or animal that does not occur naturally in the waters of the State.
 
"Person" shall mean individuals, public or private corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships, and joint stock companies.
 
"Producer" shall mean any person, firm, partnership, association or corporation that intervenes in the rearing process of aquatic organisms listed in the North American Industrial Classification System under Animal Aquaculture 1125 or Greenhouse, Nursery and Floriculture 1114 to enhance production and receives sales revenues from those organisms.
 
"Public hatchery" means any hatchery run by the State of New Jersey for the culture of aquatic organisms. Such facilities shall be exempt from all of the provisions of this chapter.
 
"Secretary" means the Secretary of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
 
"Waters of the State" means all surface and groundwaters of the State but does not include the waters in a closed system.