Texas Administrative Code › Title 31 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION › Part 2 - TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT › Chapter 69 - RESOURCE PROTECTION › Subchapter I - SHELL DREDGING ON THE TEXAS GULF COAST › Section 69.203 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
					 shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
					 otherwise.
(1) Commission--The Texas
				  Parks and Wildlife Commission.
(2)
				  Department--The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
(3) Depth--Water depth at mean low
				  water.
(4) Director--The executive
				  director of the department.
(5)
				  Dredge spoils--The waste or refuse discarded onto the bottom from the dredge or
				  associated vessels during dredging or the washing and screening of the dredged
				  material.
(6) Dredging
				  activities--All marine operations related to recovery of mudshell conducted by
				  or at the request or direction of the permittee, including but not expressly
				  limited to the movement of dredges, the placement of anchors or buoys, actual
				  dredging operations, the stockpiling and holding of dredged shell, the disposal
				  of waste or overburden, the movement of tugboats or any other form of vessel or
				  equipment utilized in connection with the overall dredging operation, the
				  movement of crewboats or any supply and support vessels, or any description or
				  any combination of these acts. The movement of survey and crewboats engaged in
				  the exploration for buried mudshell deposits even when operating outside of the
				  permitted area is not considered a dredging activity under the definition. The
				  movement of vessels and equipment when in an authorized and marked navigation
				  channel, including private channels which are established under the provisions
				  of state and federal authorities for private channels, is not considered a
				  dredging activity.
(7) Exposed
				  reef--Any natural or man-made exposed deposit of oyster or other marine shell
				  that constitutes a part of the bay bottom.
(8) General permit--The written permission
				  given to an applicant by the department granting him the privilege to dredge
				  buried shell from the waters of designated state land tracts or portions
				  thereof in accordance with the provisions of these rules and
				  regulations.
(9) Major
				  violation--Includes, but is not limited to, dredging activities in a state land
				  tract which is not included in the general or special permit; operating without
				  a permit; dredging or operating closer than 300 feet to a known exposed reef of
				  any size or closer than 300 feet to an uncharted exposed reef one acre or more
				  in size, or except within 100 feet of an exposed reef in state Tracts 74, 101,
				  102, and 106 in San Antonio Bay; dredging or operating within 1/2 mile of
				  shore; dredging or operating in marginal waters less than four feet in depth;
				  failure to respond to a stop activity order given as a result of any violation;
				  failure to map and mark the edges of all exposed reefs within 1,500 feet of any
				  dredging prior to the commencement of any dredging within an authorized tract;
				  dredging an exposed reef 1/2 acre or larger; dredging an exposed reef of less
				  than 1/2 acre without permission from the director; dredging in a tract not
				  designated as open by the director; operating more than one dredge at one time
				  in a single bay system or failure to use a silt screen when required to do so
				  by the department agent.
(10)
				  Marginal waters less than four feet deep--All waters of the bay extending out
				  from the shoreline including the shoreline of natural islands to the first
				  contour line where the water has a depth of four feet at mean low
				  water.
(11) Minor
				  violation--Siltation of exposed reef in excess of a trace as defined in this
				  section. These siltations may be the direct result of dredging shell or may be
				  caused by related dredging activities as defined in this section, such as
				  towboats handling shell barges or by other dredging activities.
(12) One year--Any period of 365 consecutive
				  days.
(13) Operations--Any aspects
				  of shell dredging activities engaged by any permittee exclusive of exploration
				  by the use of survey and crew boats for buried mudshell and marking the limits
				  of an exposed reef.
(14)
				  Permittee--The person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or entity
				  who has applied for and has been granted a permit to dredge shell from the
				  state-owned waters by the department, and the term includes the agent,
				  servants, and employees of the permit holder.
(15) Siltation--The placement or deposition
				  of sediments on exposed reefs either directly by, or as an incident to, shell
				  dredging activities (including the operation of barges and towboats) as well as
				  indirectly (as when the disturbed sediments are moved or assisted in movement
				  by wind, waves, current or tides). Fresh silt from dredging activities can be
				  differentiated from natural silt by its chemical and/or physical properties.
				  Degree of siltation will be determined by the criteria described in the
				  technical report to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, November 1967,
				  Shell Dredging, A Factor in Sedimentation in Galveston Bay, published by the
				  University of Texas.
(A) A scale of zero to
				  five as shown below will be assigned for different silt readings obtained from
				  silt baskets and tong samples of oyster shell from the reef surface.
Attached
					 Graphic
(B) A
				  "trace of silt" is indicated when the bottoms of the cups of dead oyster shell
				  are found to contain a thin layer of fine gray sediment which is discernible to
				  the eye.
(C) A "coating of silt" is
				  determined when shell cups of dead oyster shell are full of fine gray
				  silt.