LD 1417
pg. 11
Page 10 of 16 An Act To Make Changes to the Laws Governing Aquaculture Leasing Page 12 of 16
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LR 1908
Item 1

 
1. Fund established.__The Aquaculture Monitoring, Research
and Development Fund, referred to in this section as "the
fund," is established.__All income received by the
commissioner under this section must be deposited with the
Treasurer of State, tracked according to its source and
credited to the fund.__Any balance remaining in the fund at
the end of a fiscal year does not lapse but must be carried
forward to the next fiscal year.__Any interest earned on
assets of the fund is credited to the fund.__All records
related to harvests submitted by aquaculture lease holders are
considered confidential business record information for the
purposes of section 6077.

 
2.__Fees.__The following fees must be assessed and credited
to the fund.

 
A.__A person producing finfish in an aquacultural facility
subject to section 6072 shall pay to the commissioner a
fee of 1__per pound of whole fish harvested.__The person
shall pay the fee within 30 days of harvest.__Timely
payment of the fee is a condition of a lease granted under
section 6072 or 6072-A for the production of finfish in
net-pen aquacultural facilities.__The commissioner may
assess a late payment charge on an overdue payment
computed at the annual interest rate established by the
State Tax Assessor under Title 36, section 186.__The
commissioner may establish by rule any procedural
requirements for collection of the fee, including without
limitation monthly reporting of harvest amounts and
reporting forms.__A person who does not pay the fee
commits a civil violation for which a forfeiture not to
exceed $1,000 may be adjudged.

 
The commissioner may develop an alternative production fee
schedule based on the amount of feed that is used at
finfish facilities.__Any alternative production fee must
be designed to return an equivalent and sufficient revenue
stream to the production fee in this paragraph in order to
support the purposes of subsection 3.

 
B.__In accordance with the authority of the commissioner to
levy lease rents pursuant to section 6072, subsection 9 and
section 6072-A, subsection 14 and application fees pursuant to
section 6072, subsection 4-B, the commissioner shall adopt
rules to implement a fee structure for lease rents and
application fees that are in addition to the minimum lease
rents and application fees that are in effect on the effective
date of this paragraph.__Any rent or fee assessed in addition
to the fees that are in effect on the effective date of this
paragraph must be credited to the fund.__A person who does not
pay the rent or fee commits a civil


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