As used in this chapter:
    (1) “”Apalachicola Bay”” or “”Bay”” means all waters within St. George Sound, East Bay in Franklin County, Apalachicola Bay, St. Vincent Sound in Franklin County, and Indian Lagoon in Gulf County, including canals, channels, rivers, and creeks.
    (2) “”Bag”” means any container holding an amount of culled shellstock equal to the volume of two five-gallon buckets, one ten-gallon bucket, or sixty pounds.
    (3) “”Certified oyster house”” means a shellfish shipper, repacker, shucker-packer, or depuration processor who possesses a shellfish processing plant certification license from the Department.
    (4) “”Closed area”” means any area in which the taking or harvesting of oysters is prohibited pursuant to any applicable rule, order or other action of the Department or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
    (5) “”Commission”” means the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
    (6) “”Cull”” means to sort oysters immediately after they are taken out of the water, discarding oysters which are not of legal size, and cleaning mud, bedding shell, and other debris off of those retained that are legal size. Culling takes place over the bar from which the oysters were harvested and includes replacing and scattering all undersize oysters and bedding shell on the reefs from which the oysters were taken.
    (7) “”Department”” means the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
    (8) “”Harvest”” means the taking of oysters by any means whatsoever, followed by a reduction of such oysters to possession. Oysters that are taken but immediately returned to the water free, alive, and unharmed, are not harvested. In addition, temporary possession of oysters for the purpose of culling shall not constitute harvesting such oysters, provided that, after culling, they are immediately returned to the water, free, alive, and unharmed if undersize.
    (9) “”Harvest for commercial purposes”” means to harvest oysters with the intent to sell. Sale of oysters in any amount shall automatically result in such oysters being characterized as commercially harvested.
    (10) “”Harvest for recreational purposes”” means to harvest oysters for personal consumption only.
    (11) “”Oyster”” means any wild or feral mollusk of the species Crassostrea virginica.
    (12) “”Tongs”” means a hand-operated instrument used for gathering oysters consisting of a pair of long-handled rakes with inward-facing teeth.
    (13) “”Shellstock”” means shellfish which remain in their shells.
    (14) “”Tolerance”” means the allowable deviation in size from size limits prescribed in this chapter.
Rulemaking Authority Art. IV, Sec. 9, Fla. Const. Law Implemented Art. IV, Sec. 9, Fla. Const. History-New 3-10-91, Amended 11-29-93, 11-27-96, Formerly 46-27.013, Amended 1-26-21.