Marine resources: Department of Fish and Wildlife: authority: mariculture.

Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife and sets forth the duties of that department, which include administering various programs for the protection and conservation of fish and wildlife resources. Existing law provides for the regulation of the aquaculture industry within the state. Existing law requires an owner of an aquaculture facility to register with the department and pay a specified registration fee to recover the cost of reviewing new registrations, and to renew that registration annually. This bill would require the department to consider and, if appropriate, investigate whether and how to seek state verification authority from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and any other appropriate federal agencies that offer state verification authority in order to streamline the review and approval of federal permits issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers or another federal agency that may be required by a mariculture project that intends to operate within the state. The bill would require the department, if it elects to seek to obtain state verification authority, to notify and update the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife and the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, as specified. The bill would require the department to increase aquaculture facility registration fees by an unspecified amount until the cost of obtaining the state verification authority is fully recovered from those aquaculture registrants that benefit from state verification authority. The bill would define "mariculture" for the purposes of the Fish and Game Code.