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
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
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.
