Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 51 - PUBLIC HEALTH-SANITARY CODE › Part IX - Marine and Fresh Water Animal Food Products › Chapter 1 - Shellfish Growing Areas › Section IX-141 - Relaying of Shellfish [formerly paragraph 9:004]

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. No person shall engage in the business of
				relaying shellfish from waters not approved for direct market harvesting by the
				state health officer prior to obtaining a permit for that purpose from the
				Department of Health, Office of Public Health. Growing waters to be utilized
				for shellfish relaying purposes must meet or exceed the Department of Health's
				' criteria for a restricted area classification. Applications shall be
				completed and submitted with a fee of $100, which shall be paid by cashier's
				check or money order and filed not less than 14 days prior to the beginning of
				such proposed relaying. Relaying of shellfish shall be permitted only during
				the first two weeks of each calendar month. The Louisiana Molluscan Shellfish
				Program shall allow the relay of suitable shellstock during all 12 months of
				the year.
B. The Louisiana
				Molluscan Shellfish Program hereby establishes species-specific critical values
				for water temperature and salinity, which may affect the natural treatment
				process in the growing are to which the shell stock
Crassostrea
				virginica
(American Oyster, Eastern Oyster) will be relayed.
1. The critical salinity tolerances
Crassostrea virginica
shall be established as 3 to 36 parts
				per thousand. Salinities shall be measured at approximately twelve inches below
				the water surface.
2. The critical
				temperature for
Crassostrea virginica
shall be established at
				temperatures 44-89 degrees Fahrenheit. Water temperatures shall be measured at
				approximately 12 inches below the water surface.
3. The species-specific critical pollution
				criteria shall be that the growing area for relay shall demonstrate through its
				historical data that the water quality can reasonably be expected to meet the
				approved or conditionally approved criteria.
4. Relay activities which expose shell stock
				to this range of temperature and salinity values for a minimum of fourteen days
				shall be considered as meeting the speciesspecific critical values for relay of
Crassostrea virginica
.
5. The requirement for monitoring
				environmental conditions of the relay area shall be accomplished by collecting
				bacteriological water sample data and salinity data from sample stations
				nearest the relay area which are actively collected each month by the program.
				Three sample stations which triangulate, if possible, the relay area will be
				selected to meet this monitoring requirement.
6. No studies of contaminant levels of
				poisonous or deleterious substances in shellstock shall be conducted on
				shellstock for relay unless there exists scientific evidence which indicates
				the relay shellstock contains a poisonous or deleterious substance(s) which
				exceed a FDA tolerance level(s), or it is known that relay shellstock have been
				exposed to high levels of poisonous or deleterious substances.
7. The growing area to be used for the
				treatment process shall be monitored with sufficient frequency to identify when
				limiting critical value of water temperature of 44-89 degrees Fahrenheit and
				salinity 3-36 parts per thousand may be approached.
8. The effectiveness of species-specific
				contaminated reduction shall be determined based on a study. The study report
				shall demonstrate that, after the completion of the relay activity, the
				microbiological quality of shellstock is the same microbiological quality as
				that of the same shellstock already present in the approved or conditionally
				approved area.