(a) It shall be lawful for any person to fish, without being licensed to fish in this State, within an aquaculture facility designated as a fee fishing operation and registered as same with the Department of Agriculture.

Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 407

  • Aquaculture: means the controlled propagation, growth, harvest and subsequent commerce in cultured aquatic stock by an aquaculturist. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 403
  • Closed system: means an aquaculture facility with water discharge(s) that does not connect in any way to the waters of the State prior to the discharged water being screened, filtered or percolated to prevent cultured aquatic stock from escaping. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 403
  • Cultured aquatic stock: means aquatic organisms, lawfully acquired by an aquaculturist that are held and grown in a registered aquaculture facility. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 403
  • Department: means the Department of Agriculture. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 403
  • Fee fishing: means removing cultured aquatic stock from a registered aquaculture facility in a sportsman-like manner for a payment of a fee. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 403
  • Fee fishing operation: means a registered aquaculture facility where a person may fish for cultured aquatic stock. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 403
  • State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
  • Wild: means an animal or plant that is not trained, adapted and/or bred to live in a human controlled environment. See Delaware Code Title 3 Sec. 403
  • Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302

(b) The owner(s) of a fee fishing operation shall apply to the Department of Agriculture to register his or her fee fishing operation. The fee fishing operation shall meet with the following requirements, subject to inspection and approval by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, prior to the Department of Agriculture approving the registration:

(1) The fee fishing operation shall be a closed system; and

(2) The fee fishing operation shall not contain any wild finfish.

(c) When authorized by the owner of a fee fishing operation, it shall be lawful for a person to take and/or possess those species or hybrids thereof permitted according to § 903(j) of Title 7, without regard to any seasonal restrictions, size limits or creel limits.

(d) Any person in possession of cultured aquatic stock lawfully taken from a fee fishing operation shall be issued a receipt for same by the owner or owner’s agent of that fee fishing operation. This receipt shall include the name and address of the fee fishing operation, the date the cultured aquatic stock were taken, the identification and number of each species of cultured aquatic stock taken, and the signature of the person to whom the receipt is issued. This receipt shall remain in the possession of the person who took the cultured aquatic stock from the fee fishing operation until that person enters his or her personal abode or temporary or transient place of lodging. The owner or owner’s agent of the fee fishing operation shall maintain a copy of each receipt for a period of at least 1 year from the date of issuance.

(e) Unless otherwise authorized, it shall be unlawful for any person to possess any cultured aquatic stock that remain alive after legally taking same from a fee fishing operation.

69 Del. Laws, c. 103, § ?5; 79 Del. Laws, c. 178, § ?1;