Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 322 CMR - Division of Marine Fisheries › Title 322 CMR 16.00 - Shellfish Sanitation, Harvest, Handling And Management › Section 16.02 - General Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
The following definitions apply for the purposes of M.G.L. c.
				130, and 322 CMR 16.00:
Approved Area
means any shellfish
				growing area classified, pursuant to M.G.L. c. 130, § 74 or 74A, as
				Approved or Conditionally Approved, and not in a closed status pursuant to
				M.G.L. c. 130, § 74A or under the provisions of a Conditional Area
				Management Plan.
Approved Standard Source of Ice
means
				ice obtained from facilities permitted to manufacture ice pursuant to 105 CMR
				500.000:
Good Manufacturing Practices for Food
or retail food
				facilities permitted to sell ice pursuant to 105 CMR 590.000:
State
				Sanitary Code Chapter X - Minimum Sanitation Standards for Food
				Establishments
.
Bay Scallop
means that species of
				shellfish known as
Argopectin irradians
and may be commonly
				referred to as a scallop.
Channeled Whelk
means that species
				known as
Busycotypus canaliculatus
.
Closed Status
means that a shellfish
				growing area classified as Approved, Conditionally Approved, Restricted or
				Conditionally Restricted has been closed to shellfish harvesting activities
				pursuant to M.G.L. c. 130, § 74A or, in the case of a Conditionally
				Approved area, when the municipality closes an area under provisions of a
				Conditional Area Management Plan.
Commercial Fisher
means any person who
				may catch, possess and land shellfish for the purpose of sale, barter or
				exchange or keeps for family use any shellfish taken under the authority of a
				commercial fishing permit issued by the Director pursuant to M.G.L. c. 130,
				§§ 2, 75 and 80, and
				322
				CMR 7.01(2):
Commercial Fishing Permits
. This shall include shellfish
				aquaculturists and wild shellfish harvesters.
Commercial Fishing
means fishing for
				shellfish for the purpose of sale, barter or exchange.
Commercial Purposes
means the
				possession or transportation of any shellfish for any fare, fee, rate, charge,
				sale, exchange, trade or other consideration that is either directly or
				indirectly in connection with any business or any other undertaking intended
				for profit.
Conditional Area Management Plan
means
				a plan required by the NSSP that is approved by the Division and sets forth the
				criteria and performance standards to open and close Conditionally Approved and
				Conditionally Restricted shellfish growing areas to the harvest of
				shellfish.
Container
means any bag, sack, tote,
				conveyance or other receptacle used for containing shellfish for holding or
				transporting.
Contaminated Area
means any shellfish
				growing area classified, pursuant to M.G.L. c. 130, § 74 or 74A, as
				Prohibited, Restricted, Conditionally Restricted, Conditionally Approved or
				Approved and in a closed status.
Contaminated Shellfish
means any
				shellstock within or taken from any contaminated area.
Contaminated Transplant or Relay
means
				the transfer of any sized shellfish by municipalities from a Restricted,
				Conditionally Restricted or Conditionally Approved shellfish growing area in
				the closed status to any Approved or Conditionally Approved area for
				propagation and natural purification to enhance the public
				shellfisheries.
Cull
means to discard undersize or
				broken shellfish during harvest by fishers or shellfish aquaculturists; or the
				sorting, grading and cleaning of shellfish for purposes of sale; or replanting
				of shellfish at the licensed shellfish aquaculture grant site by a shellfish
				aquaculturist or their employee.
Culture Activity
means those
				activities conducted by shellfish aquaculturists or their employees that are
				authorized in writing by the Director and occur at locations other than the
				licensed shellfish aquaculture grant site. This includes, but is not limited
				to, the sorting, cleaning, culling, grading, pitting or over-wintering of
				cultured shellfish.
Dealer
means any person, business or
				entity that is permitted in accordance with M.G.L. c. 130, § 80, and
				322
				CMR 7.01(3):
Dealer
				Permits
to purchase, or sell shellfish at a wholesale or retail
				level.
Depuration
means the process of
				reducing the pathogenic organisms that may be present in shellstock by using a
				controlled aquatic environment as the treatment process.
Director
means the Director of the
				Division of Marine Fisheries or his or her designee.
Discard
means to return live shellfish
				to the sea.
Division
means the Massachusetts
				Division of Marine Fisheries.
European Oyster
means that species of
				shellfish known as
Ostrea eduilis
.
FDA
means the United States Food and
				Drug Administration.
Fishing or Fish For
means to harvest,
				catch or take, or attempt to harvest, catch or take any shellfish. For vessels
				using mobile gear, a vessel is presumed to be fishing unless the dredge gear is
				out of the water and secured to the vessel's side or stern, or otherwise
				stowed.
Growing Area
means any site which
				supports or could support the propagation of shellshock by natural or
				artificial means. The Division has listed and mapped all growing areas in the
				waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth and these geographic areas
				are made available to the public on the Division's website at
www.mass.gov/marinefisheries
.
Icing
means to apply ice made from a
				DMF approved potable water source to shellfish for temperature control.
Knobbed Whelk
means that species known
				as
Busycon carica
.
Land
means to transfer or attempt to
				transfer shellfish onto any land, pier, wharf, dock or other artificial
				structure or for a vessel with any shellfish onboard to tie-up to any dock,
				pier or artificial structure.
Lot
means containers of shellfish
				identified with the same time of removal from a single defined growing area
				gathered by a single permit holder.
Market Bound
means all shellfish
				removed from a shellfish growing area by a commercial fisher intended for
				commercial purposes on that calendar day.
Market Sized
means any shellfish that
				conform to minimum shellfish sizes, as established at 322 CMR 6.00:
Regulation of Catches
, and may be harvested and sold for
				commercial purposes.
Model Ordinance or MO
means that part
				of the most recent version of the
National Shellfish Sanitation Program
				(NSSP) Guide for the Control of Molluscan Shellfish
that sets forth
				the requirements that states have agreed to enforce through their participation
				in the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISSC), which are minimally
				necessary for the sanitary control of shellfish produced from that state to
				ensure that it is safe for human consumption.
Moderately Contaminated Shellfish
means any shellstock within a shellfish growing area classified as Restricted
				or Conditionally Restricted in the open status.
National Shellfish Sanitation Program or
				NSSP
means the cooperative State, FDA, Industry program for the
				sanitary control of shellfish that is adequate to ensure that the shellfish
				produced in accordance with these guidelines will be safe and sanitary.
Ocean Quahog
means that species of
				shellfish known as
Arctica islandica
and may be commonly
				referred to as a sea quahog or mahogany quahog.
Open Status
means a shellfish growing
				area classified as Approved, Conditionally Approved, Restricted or
				Conditionally Restricted that has not been closed pursuant to M.G.L. c. 130,
				§ 74 or under provisions of a Conditional Area Management Plan.
Oyster
means that species of shellfish
				known as
Crassostrea virginica
and also commonly known as the
				eastern oyster or American oyster.
Primary Buyer
means any wholesale
				dealer, permitted in accordance with M.G.L. c. 130, § 80, and
				322
				CMR 7.01(3):
Dealer
				Permits
and further authorized by the Director pursuant to
				322
				CMR 7.07:
Dealers Acting as Primary
				Buyers
to engage in the primary purchase of shellfish from any
				permitted commercial fisher.
Primary Purchase
means the first
				commercial transaction by sale, barter or exchange of any shellfish after its
				harvest.
Prohibited Shellfish Growing Area
means a growing area classified pursuant to M.G.L. c. 130, § 74 or 74A as
				Prohibited, where the harvest of shellfish is prohibited for any purpose,
				except if otherwise approved by the Director for the purposes of depletion or
				the nursery grow-out of seed for aquaculture and propagation.
Propagation
means any shellfish
				planting activity conducted by municipalities or the Division to increase the
				supply of shellfish available to the public fishery.
Public Health
means the Massachusetts
				Department of Public Health.
Sanitation Device
means a U.S.C.G.
				approved sewage disposal device, toilet or receptacle designed to prevent the
				overboard discharge of sewage or bodily fluids. This device shall conform to
				the regulations set forth at 33 CFR 159.57.
Sea Scallop
means the species known as
Placopecten magellanicus
and commonly known as the Atlantic
				deep sea scallop.
Seed
means shellstock that is less
				than the minimum size prescribed at
				322
				CMR 6.20:
Quahogs, Soft Shelled Clams
				and Oysters
.
Shellfish
means blood arcs, clams,
				conchs, limpets, mussels, american oyster, european oyster, periwinkles,
				quahogs, razor clams, bay scallops, surf clams, ocean quahogs, sea scallops,
				softshell clams, whelks and winkles.
Shellfish Aquaculture
means the
				planting and raising of shellfish at a specific location, licensed in
				accordance with M.G.L. c. 130, § 57, which results in the commercial
				production of shellfish.
Shellfish Aquaculturist
means any
				person permitted by the Division pursuant to M.G.L. c. 130, §§ 2, 17B
				and 80, and
				322
				CMR 7.01(4)(c):
Special Project
and
				322
				CMR 15.04:
Permits
to plant
				and raise shellfish at a specific location, licensed in accordance with M.G.L.
				c 130, § 57, which results in the commercial production of
				shellfish.
Shellfish Aquaculture Grant Site
means
				the specific portion of the coastal waters of the Commonwealth granted by the
				municipality where a shellfish aquaculturist is licensed to propagate shellfish
				in accordance with M.G.L. c. 130, § 57.
Shellstock
means any live shellfish in
				the shell.
Shuck
means the removal of one or both
				shells to process, remove and retain only the meat or the adductor muscle from
				the shellstock.
Standard Fish Tote
means a container
				that does not exceed the volume of 6,525 cubic inches.
Surf Clam
means that species of
				shellfish known as
Spisula solidissima
and may be commonly
				referred to as a sea clam or Atlantic surf clam.
Time of Harvest
means for sub-tidal
				areas when the first piece of shellfish in a lot is taken from the water on any
				calendar day. Time of harvest for intertidal areas means when the first piece
				of shellfish in a lot is exposed during a single low tide cycle or when the
				first piece of shellfish in a lot is taken from the water or sediment,
				whichever occurs first.
Trip
means that period of time that
				begins when a fishing vessel or shellfish harvester departs from a dock, berth,
				beach, mooring, seawall, ramp or port to carry out a commercial fishing
				operation and terminates with the return to that dock, berth, beach, mooring,
				seawall, ramp or port, or with the landing of any fish.
Vessel
means any commercial fishing
				vessel, boat, ship or other water craft registered under the laws of the
				Commonwealth, as defined at M.G.L. c. 130, § 1, and which is used to
				harvest shellfish for any purpose of sale, barter, or exchange and shall
				include any vessel authorized under the laws of the United States to carry
				passengers for-hire exclusively to harvest shellfish.
Wet Storage
means the storage by a
				dealer of shellstock from an Approved growing area in the open status or a
				Conditionally Approved growing area in the open status in containers or floats
				in natural bodies of water or in tanks containing natural or synthetic seawater
				at any permitted land-based activity or facility. When engaged in the wet
				storage of shellfish at its Newburyport Shellfish Depuration Plant, the
				Division does not act as a dealer for the purpose of
Wet
				Storage
and therefore does not require a separate permit or other
				authorization for such activity.