§412. Issuance and renewal of domesticated aquatic organism license

            A.(1) Every person desiring to engage in aquaculture shall first make application in writing to the department requesting a domesticated aquatic organism license.

            (2) A domesticated aquatic organism license shall be valid for one year, beginning January first of each calendar year and expiring December thirty-first of the same calendar year. The license may be purchased at any time of the year for the current license year and after November fourteenth for the immediately following license year. The cost of a domesticated aquatic organism license is twenty-five dollars for residents and five hundred dollars for nonresidents. A renewal notice shall be mailed to each licensee by the department prior to the license expiration dates explaining the renewal procedures. In addition to the general domestic aquatic organism license, the department may issue the following permits for particular aquaculture activity:

            (a) Any required species specific culture permit shall cost one hundred dollars and all other species specific permits shall cost fifty dollars.

            (b) Mariculture permits shall cost five hundred dollars annually. Mariculture permits shall be issued for the life of the project and shall be revoked upon failure to maintain the conditions of the permit, or upon lapse of the annual fee.

            (3) The domesticated aquatic organism license shall authorize the bearer to transport domesticated aquatic organisms over the highways of this state. The licensee is responsible for all activities that take place under the authority of that license.

            (4) Persons engaged in the business of aquaculture under this Subpart are excepted from the provisions of R.S. 56:306, and the notification provisions of R.S. 56:327(A)(2), and shall, by virtue of their license, be entitled to sell domesticated aquatic organisms in any size, quantity, or limit without restriction within the state or outside of the state. Creel limits shall not apply to shipments or transport of domesticated aquatic organisms under the provisions of this Subpart.

            (5) No person engaged in the business of aquaculture nor any other person may use public bodies of water to propagate, raise, feed, or grow any species of fish with the exception of shellfish native or endemic to Louisiana or the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The use of cages, pens, and fenced-off portions of such water bodies for propagating, raising, or growing any species of fish is prohibited without a valid Mariculture or Alternative Oyster Culture permit issued by the department.

            (6) Species of rock bass, white bass, yellow bass, crappie, and bream fingerlings not exceeding a maximum total length of six inches and spotted bass, striped bass, and largemouth bass of any size may be brought into the state by and from legal and certified out-of-state commercial fish hatcheries for sale to persons for stocking ponds and approved public waters located in Louisiana and may be sold by permitted residents in accordance with the provisions of this Subsection. Creel limits shall not apply to shipments of such game fish fingerlings.

            (7) The department shall have the authority to cancel sales or to confiscate and destroy shipments of fish fingerlings that are determined by department personnel to have fish diseases or parasites that would endanger native fish populations.

            (8) The department may issue permits to residents to authorize the raising of all types of bass, crappie, and bream in the state as specified in this Subpart for the purpose of selling to consumers in this state for stocking of private ponds and lakes and approved public waters and for the purpose of selling to consumers in other states. The manner of raising, harvesting, and selling these game fish shall be governed by administrative rules and regulations promulgated by the commission.

            (9) With the exception of game fish, the provisions of this Section shall not apply to research or other projects being conducted by the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center or by other schools or programs specifically authorized by the Board of Regents with the concurrence of the department, including but not limited to the sale or distribution of the research by-products, such as eggs, fingerlings, and fish, and other products grown under aquacultural conditions.

            B. Violation of any of the provisions of this Section constitutes a class 2-B violation.

            Added by Acts 1964, No. 245, §1; Amended by Acts 1966, No. 242, §1; Acts 1970, No. 77, §1; Acts 1974, No. 223, §3; Acts 1984, No. 230, §1, eff. June 29, 1984; Acts 1986, No. 1008, §1; Acts 1987, No. 92, §2; Acts 1987, No. 534, §2; Acts 1987, No. 851, §2; Acts 1988, No. 778, §1; Acts 1990, No. 251, §1; Acts 1992, No. 528, §1, eff. June 29, 1992; Acts 1997, No. 1237, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1022, §1; Acts 2008, No. 23, §1, eff. July 1, 2008; Acts 2014, No. 286, §1; Acts 2021, No. 241, §1; Acts 2021, No. 356, §2, eff. Nov. 15, 2021.

NOTE: See Acts 1997, No. 1237, §2, for exception of Atchafalaya Basin.