Modifies definition of "aquaculture" throughout State law to include construction of facilities and appurtenant structures.

A4994

ASSEMBLY, No. 4994

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 7, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� ALEX SAUICKIE

District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Modifies definition of "aquaculture"
throughout State law to include construction of facilities and appurtenant
structures.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
concerning aquaculture and amending various parts of
the statutory law.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.� Section 3 of P.L.1997,
c.236 (C.4:27-3) is amended to read as follows:

���� 3.� As used in sections 1
through 24 of
[
this
act
]

P.L.1997,
c.236 (C.4:27-1 et al.)
:

���� "Aquaculture" means
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 need not be limited to, activities to
intervene in the rearing process to increase production such as stocking,
feeding, transplanting and providing for protection from predators.
"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 Development
Plan" means the plan prepared by the Aquaculture Development Task Force,
established pursuant to Executive Order No. 104 (1993).

���� "Aquaculturist"
means a person engaging in aquaculture.

���� "Aquatic organism"
means and includes, but need not be limited to, finfish, mollusks, crustaceans,
and aquatic plants which are the property of a person engaged in aquaculture.

���� "Council" means the
Aquaculture Advisory Council established pursuant to section 5 of
[
this act
]

P.L.1997,
c.236 (C.4:27-1 et al.)
.

���� "Office" means the
Office of Aquaculture Coordination established pursuant to section 4 of
[
this act
]

P.L.1997,
c.236 (C.4:27-1 et al.)
.

���� "Secretary" means
the Secretary of Agriculture.

(cf: P.L.1997, c.236, s.3)

���� 2.� Section 3 of P.L.1979,
c.111 (C.13:18A-3) is amended to read as follows:

���� 3.� As used in
[
this act
]

P.L.1979,
c.111 (C.13:18A-1 et seq.)
:

���� a. "Agricultural or
horticultural purposes" or "agricultural or horticultural use"
means any production of plants or animals useful to man, including but not
limited to: forages or sod crops; grains and feed crops; dairy animals and dairy
products; poultry and poultry products; livestock, including beef cattle,
sheep, swine, horses, ponies, mules or goats, and including the breeding and
grazing of any or all of such animals; bees and apiary products; fur animals;
aquatic organisms as part of aquaculture; trees and forest products; fruits of
all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries; vegetables; nursery, floral,
ornamental and greenhouse products; or any land devoted to and meeting the
requirements and qualifications for payments or other compensation pursuant to
a soil conservation program under an agency of the Federal Government;

���� b. "Application for
development" means the application form and all accompanying documents
required by municipal ordinance for approval of a subdivision plat, site plan,
planned development, conditional use, zoning variance or other permit as provided
in the "Municipal Land Use Law," P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et
seq.), for any use, development or construction other than the improvement,
expansion or reconstruction of any single-family dwelling unit or appurtenance
thereto, or the improvement, expansion, construction or reconstruction of any
structure used exclusively for� agricultural or horticultural purposes;

���� c. "Commission"
means the Pinelands Commission created by section 4 of
[
this act
]

P.L.1979,
c.111 (C.13:18A-1 et seq.)
;

���� d. "Comprehensive
management plan" means the plan prepared and adopted by the commission
pursuant to section 7 of
[
this
act
]

P.L.1979,
c.111 (C.13:18A-1 et seq.)
;

���� e. "Council" means
the Pinelands Municipal Council created by section 6.1 of
[
this act
]

P.L.1979,
c.111 (C.13:18A-1 et seq.)
;

���� f. "Federal Act"
means section 502 of the "National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978"
(Pub.L. 95-625);

���� g. "Major
development" means any division or subdivision of land into five or more
parcels; any construction or expansion of any housing development of five or
more dwelling units; any construction or expansion of any commercial or
industrial use or structure on a site of more than three acres; or any grading,
clearing or disturbance of any area in excess of 5,000 square feet for other
than agricultural or horticultural purposes;

���� h. "Pinelands area"
means that area so designated by subsection a. of section 10 of
[
this act
]

P.L.1979,
c.111 (C.13:18A-1 et seq.)
;

���� i. "Pinelands National
Reserve" means the approximately 1,000,000 acre area so designated by the
Federal Act and generally depicted on the map entitled� "Pinelands
National Reserve Boundary Map"� numbered NPS/80,011A and dated September,
1978;

���� j. "Preservation
area" means that portion of the pinelands area so designated by subsection
b. of section 10 of
[
this
act
]

P.L.1979,
c.111 (C.13:18A-1 et seq.)
;

���� k. "Protection area"
means that portion of the pinelands area not included within the preservation
area;

���� l. "Aquaculture"
means 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 need not be limited to, activities to intervene in the
rearing process to increase production such as stocking, feeding, transplanting
and providing for protection from predators. "Aquaculture" shall not
include the construction of facilities and appurtenant structures that might
otherwise be regulated pursuant to any other State or federal law or regulation
]

same as
the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1997, c.236 (C.4:27-3)
;

���� m. "Aquatic
organism" means and includes, but need not be limited to, finfish,
mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants which are the property of a person
engaged in aquaculture.

(cf: P.L.1997, c.236, s.35)

���� 3.� Section 3 of P.L.1979,
c.199 (C.23:2B-3) is amended to read as follows:

����
3.
� As used in
[
this act
]

P.L.1979,
c.199 (C.23:2B-1 et al.)
:

���� a. "Aquaculture"
means the
[
propagation
and rearing of aquatic species in controlled or selected environments
]

same as
the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1997, c.236 (C.4:27-3)
;

���� b. "Commissioner"
means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection;

���� c. "Council" means
the Marine Fisheries Council created pursuant to
[
this act
]

P.L.1979,
c.199 (C.23:2B-1 et al.)
, except in those sections of
[
this act
]

P.L.1979,
c.199 (C.23:2B-1 et al.)
amending sections of Title 50 of the Revised
Statutes;

���� d. "Department"
means the Department of Environmental Protection;

���� e. "Fish" means any
marine or anadromous animal or plant, or part thereof, excepting mammals and
birds;

���� f. "Fisheries management
plans" means plans to prevent overfishing, achieve optimal yield from each
fishery on a continuing basis, which are based on the best scientific
information available, are in accordance with management plans promulgated
pursuant to the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976 and any
appropriate interstate programs, provide for the management of stock as a unit
throughout their range, and allow for flexibility management; provided,
however, that such plans, where practicable and feasible, give preference to
the interests and concerns of fishermen in this State;

���� g. "Marine waters"
means all the salt waters of this State, and none of the fresh waters of this
State as defined in R.S.23:1-2. Specifically it includes the waters of the
Atlantic ocean, and all bays, inlets and estuarine waters located below the
mouth of any fresh water river, stream or creek;

���� h. "Optimum yield"
means the amount of fish from a fishery which will provide the greatest overall
benefit to the State, with particular reference to food production and
recreational opportunities, and the amount of fish which is prescribed as such
on the basis of the maximum sustainable yield from such fishery as modified by
any relevant economic, social or ecological factor;

���� i. "Processing"
means handling, storing, freezing, preparing, preserving, packing,
transporting, holding, or selling fish or fish products;

���� j. "Taking" means to
catch, net, capture, possess, or collect any fish or to attempt to engage in
any such conduct;

���� k. "Fishery" means
one or more stocks of fish which can be treated as a unit for purposes of
conservation and management and which are identified on the basis of
geographical, scientific, technical, recreational and economic characteristics
and any fishing for such stocks.

(cf: P.L.1979, c.199, s.3)

���� 4.� Section 3 of P.L.1981,
c.262 (C.58:1A-3) is amended to read as follows:

���� 3.��� As used in the
provisions of P.L.1981, c.262 (C.58:1A-1 et seq.), P.L.1993, c.202 (C.58:1A-7.3
et al.) and P.L.2003, c.251 (C.58:1A-13.1 et al.):

���� a.���� "Commissioner"
means the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection or the
commissioner's designated representative;

���� b.��� "Consumptive
use" means any use of water diverted from surface or ground waters other
than a nonconsumptive use as defined in this section;

���� c.���� "Department"
means the Department of Environmental Protection;

���� d.��� "Diversion"
means the taking or impoundment of water from a river, stream, lake, pond,
aquifer, well, other underground source, or other water body, whether or not
the water is returned thereto, consumed, made to flow into another stream or
basin, or discharged elsewhere;

���� e.���� "Nonconsumptive
use" means the use of water diverted from surface or ground waters in such
a manner that it is returned to the surface or ground water at or near the
point from which it was taken without substantial diminution in quantity or substantial
impairment of quality;

���� f.���� "Person"
means any individual, corporation, company, partnership, firm, association,
owner or operator of a water supply facility, political subdivision of the
State and any state, or interstate agency or Federal agency;

���� g.��� "Waters" or
"waters of the State" means all surface waters and ground waters in
the State;

���� h.��� "Safe or dependable
yield" or "safe yield" means that maintainable yield of water
from a surface or ground water source or sources which is available
continuously during projected future conditions, including a repetition of the
most severe drought of record, without creating undesirable effects, as
determined by the department;

���� i.���� "Aquaculture"
means the
[
propagation,
rearing and subsequent harvesting of aquatic species in controlled or selected
environments, and the subsequent processing, packaging and marketing, and shall
include, but need not be limited to, activities to intervene in the rearing
process to increase production such as stocking, feeding, transplanting, and
providing for protection from predators.� "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
]

same as
the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1997, c.236 (C.4:27-3)
;

���� j.���� "Aquatic
organism" means and includes, but need not be limited to, finfish,
mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants which are the property of a person
engaged in aquaculture;

���� k.��� "Six Mile Run
Reservoir Site" means the land acquired by the State for development of
the Six Mile Run Reservoir in Franklin Township, Somerset County, as identified
by the Eastern Raritan Feasibility Study and the New Jersey Statewide Water Supply
Plan prepared and adopted by the department pursuant to section 13 of P.L.1981,
c.262 (C.58:1A-13).

(cf: P.L.2003, c.251, s.1)

���� 5.� Section 2 of P.L.1981,
c.277 (C.58:1A-7.2) is amended to read as follows:

���� 2.� The provisions of any law,
rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding, no tax, fee or other charge
shall be imposed on the diversion, for agricultural or horticultural purposes,
including aquaculture, of any ground or surface water of this State; provided,
however, that nothing in this section shall prohibit the imposition of a fee,
pursuant to law, for the cost of processing, monitoring and administering a
water usage certification program for persons who divert any ground or surface
water for agricultural and horticultural purposes, or other
agriculturally-related purposes, including aquaculture.

���� As used in this section,
"aquaculture" means 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 need not be limited to, activities such as stocking,
intervention in the rearing process to increase production, feeding,
transplanting, and providing for protection from predators and shall not
include the construction of facilities and appurtenant structures that might
otherwise be regulated pursuant to any State or federal law or regulation
]

same as
the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1997, c.236 (C.4:27-3)
,

and "aquatic organism"
means and includes, but need not be limited to, finfish, mollusks, crustaceans,
and aquatic plants which are the property of a person engaged in aquaculture.

(cf: P.L.1997, c.236, s.31)

���� 6.� Section 3 of P.L.1977,
c.74 (C.58:10A-3) is amended to read as follows:

���� 3.� As used in
[
this act
]

P.L.1977,
c.74 (C.58:10A-1 et seq.)
, unless the context clearly requires a different
meaning, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:

���� a. "Administrator"
means the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency or
his authorized representative;

���� b. "Areawide plan"
means any plan prepared pursuant to section 208 of the Federal Act;

���� c. "Commissioner"
means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection or his authorized
representative;

���� d. "Department"
means the Department of Environmental Protection;

���� e. "Discharge" means
an intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting in the releasing,
spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping of a
pollutant into the waters of the State, onto land or into wells from which it
might flow or drain into said waters or into waters or onto lands outside the
jurisdiction of the State, which pollutant enters the waters of the State.�
"Discharge" includes the release of any pollutant into a municipal
treatment works;

���� f. "Effluent
limitation" means any restriction on quantities, quality, rates and
concentration of chemical, physical, thermal, biological, and other
constituents of pollutants established by permit, or imposed as an interim
enforcement limit pursuant to an administrative order, including an
administrative consent order;

���� g. "Federal Act"
means the "Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972"
(Public Law 92-500; 33 U.S.C. s.1251 et seq.);

���� h. "Municipal treatment
works" means the treatment works of any municipal, county, or State agency
or any agency or subdivision created by one or more municipal, county or State
governments and the treatment works of any public utility as defined in
R.S.48:2-13;

���� i. "National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System" or "NPDES" means the national
system for the issuance of permits under the Federal Act;

���� j. "New Jersey Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System" or "NJPDES" means the New Jersey
system for the issuance of permits under
[
this
act
]

P.L.1977,
c.74 (C.58:10A-1 et seq.)
;

���� k. "Permit" means a
NJPDES permit issued pursuant to section 6 of
[
this
act
]

P.L.1977,
c.74 (C.58:10A-1 et seq.)
.� "Permit" includes a letter of
agreement entered into between a delegated local agency and a user of its
municipal treatment works, setting effluent limitations and other conditions on
the user of the agency's municipal treatment works;

���� l. "Person" means
any individual, corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, owner or
operator of a treatment works, political subdivision of this State and any
state or interstate agency. "Person" shall also mean any responsible
corporate official for the purpose of enforcement action under section 10 of
[
this act
]

P.L.1977,
c.74 (C.58:10A-1 et seq.)
;

���� m. "Point source"
means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not
limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure,
container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or
other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged;

���� n. "Pollutant" means
any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, refuse,
oil, grease, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials,
radioactive substance, thermal waste, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock,
sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal or agricultural waste or other
residue discharged into the waters of the State.� "Pollutant"
includes both hazardous and nonhazardous pollutants;

���� o. "Pretreatment
standards" means any restriction on quantities, quality, rates, or
concentrations of pollutants discharged into municipal or privately owned
treatment works adopted pursuant to P.L.1972, c.42 (C.58:11-49 et seq.);

���� p. "Schedule of
compliance" means a schedule of remedial measures including an enforceable
sequence of actions or operations leading to compliance with water quality
standards, an effluent limitation or other limitation, prohibition or standard;

���� q. "Substantial
modification of a permit" means any significant change in any effluent
limitation, schedule of compliance, compliance monitoring requirement, or any
other provision in any permit which permits, allows, or requires more or less stringent
or more or less timely compliance by the permittee;

���� r. "Toxic pollutant"
means any pollutant identified pursuant to the Federal Act, or any pollutant or
combination of pollutants, including disease causing agents, which after
discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation or assimilation into any
organism, either directly or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will,
on the basis of information available to the commissioner, cause death,
disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological
malfunctions, including malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformation,
in such organisms or their offspring;

���� s. "Treatment works"
means any device or systems, whether public or private, used in the storage,
treatment, recycling, or reclamation of municipal or industrial waste of a
liquid nature including intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection
systems, cooling towers and ponds, pumping, power and other equipment and their
appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations
thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as
standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any other works
including sites for the treatment process or for ultimate disposal of residues
resulting from such treatment.� "Treatment works" includes any other
method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treating,
separating, or disposing of pollutants, including storm water runoff, or
industrial waste in combined or separate storm water and sanitary sewer
systems;

���� t. "Waters of the
State" means the ocean and its estuaries, all springs, streams and bodies
of surface or ground water, whether natural or artificial, within the
boundaries of this State or subject to its jurisdiction;

���� u. "Hazardous
pollutant" means:

���� (1) Any toxic pollutant;

���� (2) Any substance regulated as
a pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act,
Pub.L.92-516 (7 U.S.C. s.136 et seq.);

���� (3) Any substance the use or
manufacture of which is prohibited under the federal Toxic Substances Control
Act, Pub.L.94-469 (15 U.S.C. s.2601 et seq.);

���� (4) Any substance identified
as a known carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer;

���� (5) Any hazardous waste as
designated pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1981, c.279 (C.13:1E-51) or the
"Resource Conservation and Recovery Act," Pub.L.94-580 (42 U.S.C.
s.6901 et seq.); or

���� (6) Any hazardous substance as
defined pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11b);

���� v. "Serious
violation" means an exceedance of an effluent limitation for a discharge
point source set forth in a permit, administrative order, or administrative
consent agreement, including interim enforcement limits, by 20 percent or more
for a hazardous pollutant, or by 40 percent or more for a nonhazardous
pollutant, calculated on the basis of the monthly average for a pollutant for
which the effluent limitation is expressed as a monthly average, or, in the
case of an effluent limitation expressed as a daily maximum and without a
monthly average, on the basis of the monthly average of all maximum daily test
results for that pollutant in any month; in the case of an effluent limitation
for a pollutant that is not measured by mass or concentration, the department
shall prescribe an equivalent exceedance factor therefor. The department may
utilize, on a case-by-case basis, a more stringent factor of exceedance to
determine a serious violation if the department states the specific reasons
therefor, which may include the potential for harm to human health or the
environment.� "Serious violation" shall not include a violation of a
permit limitation for color;

���� w. "Significant
noncomplier" means any person who commits a serious violation for the same
hazardous pollutant or the same nonhazardous pollutant, at the same discharge
point source, in any two months of any six-month period, or who exceeds the
monthly average or, in a case of a pollutant for which no monthly average has
been established, the monthly average of the daily maximums for an effluent
limitation for the same pollutant at the same discharge point source by any
amount in any four months of any six-month period, or who fails to submit a
completed discharge monitoring report in any two months of any six-month
period.� The department may utilize, on a case-by-case basis, a more stringent
frequency or factor of exceedance to determine a significant noncomplier, if
the department states the specific reasons therefor, which may include the
potential for harm to human health or the environment.� A local agency shall
not be deemed a "significant noncomplier" due to an exceedance of an
effluent limitation established in a permit for flow;

���� x. "Local agency"
means a political subdivision of the State, or an agency or instrumentality
thereof, that owns or operates a municipal treatment works;

���� y. "Delegated local
agency" means a local agency with an industrial pretreatment program
approved by the department;

���� z. "Upset" means an
exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary
noncompliance with an effluent limitation because of an event beyond the
reasonable control of the permittee, including fire, riot, sabotage, or a
flood, storm event, natural cause, or other act of God, or other similar
circumstance, which is the cause of the violation.� "Upset" also
includes noncompliance consequent to the performance of maintenance operations
for which a prior exception has been granted by the department or a delegated
local agency;

���� aa. "Bypass" means
the anticipated or unanticipated intentional diversion of waste streams from
any portion of a treatment works;

���� bb. "Major facility"
means any facility or activity classified as such by the Administrator of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency, or his representative, in
conjunction with the department, and includes industrial facilities and municipal
treatment works;

���� cc. "Significant indirect
user" means a discharger of industrial or other pollutants into a
municipal treatment works, as defined by the department, including, but not
limited to, industrial dischargers, but excluding the collection system of a
municipal treatment works;

���� dd. "Violation of this
act" means a violation of any provisions of
[
this act
]

P.L.1977,
c.74 (C.58:10A-1 et seq.)
, and shall include a violation of any rule or
regulation, water quality standard, effluent limitation or other condition of a
permit, or order adopted, issued, or entered into pursuant to
[
this act
]

P.L.1977,
c.74 (C.58:10A-1 et seq.)
;

���� ee. "Aquaculture"
means 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 need not be limited to, activities to intervene in the
rearing process to increase production such as stocking, feeding,
transplanting, and providing for protection from predators.
"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
]

same as the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1997, c.236 (C.4:27-3)
;

���� ff. "Aquatic
organism" means and includes, but need not be limited to, finfish,
mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants which are the property of a person
engaged in aquaculture.

(cf: P.L.1997, c.236, s.26)

���� 7.� Section 2 of P.L.1989,
c.199 (C.58:10A-7.1) is amended to read as follows:

���� 2.� After December 31, 1991,
the department may not issue a permit to any private, commercial, or industrial
applicant for the discharge of any solid, semi-solid, or liquid wastes into the
ocean waters of the State, the provisions of any other law, or rule or
regulation to the contrary notwithstanding.� Any permit issued by the
department for the discharge of any such waste prior to January 1, 1992 shall
expire on January 1, 1992, the provisions of any such permit to the contrary
notwithstanding.� The provisions of P.L.1989, c.119 shall not apply to permits
applied for, or issued to, municipal treatment works, seafood processing
facilities, public water supply desalinization plants, or aquaculture
activities. As used in
[
this
act
]

P.L.1989,
c.199 (C.58:10A-7.1)
, "ocean waters" means those waters of the
open seas lying seaward of the base line from which the territorial sea is
measured, as provided for in the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the
Contiguous Zone (15 UST 1606; TIAS 5639).

���� As used in this section,
"aquaculture" means 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 need not be limited to, activities such as stocking,
intervention in the rearing process to increase production, feeding,
transplanting, and providing for protection from predators and shall not
include the construction of facilities and appurtenant structures that might
otherwise be regulated pursuant to any State or federal law or regulation
]

same as
the term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1997, c.236 (C.4:27-3)
, and
"aquatic organism" means and includes, but need not be limited to,
finfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants which are the property of a
person engaged in aquaculture.

(cf: P.L.1997, c.236, s.28)

���� 8.� This act shall take effect
immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would modify the
definition of �aquaculture� in various State laws to clarify that the term
aquaculture includes the construction of facilities and appurtenant structures
that might otherwise be regulated pursuant to any State or federal law or
regulation.� According to current law, the term aquaculture does not include the
construction of facilities and appurtenant structures that might otherwise be
regulated pursuant to any State or federal law or regulation.

���� New Jersey�s aquaculture
industry relies on both in-water farms and the land-based facilities that
sustain them.� Structures such as hatcheries, processing facilities, and
equipment storage are just as vital to shellfish farming as barns and silos are
to traditional agriculture.� Recognizing these structures as aquaculture will
provide much-needed clarity to attract investment and to position New Jersey as
a competitor in a thriving and sustainable industry.