Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 13, September 23, 2024
Subpart 1.
Definitions.
For purposes of this part, the terms in items A to G have the
meanings given them.
A. "Aquaculture
therapeutics" means drugs, medications, or disease control chemicals that are
approved for concentrated aquatic animal production facility use by the United
States Food and Drug Administration or the United States Environmental
Protection Agency.
B. "Aquatic
animal production" means harvest of unprocessed aquatic animals, including
mortalities, where the animals are fed fish food.
C. "Chemical additive" means an aquaculture
therapeutic, growth-inducing compound, hormone, or algal control product that
is added to a concentrated aquatic animal production facility.
D. "Cold water aquatic animals" means aquatic
animals in the Salmonidae family of fish, such as trout and salmon.
E. "Concentrated aquatic animal production
facility" means a hatchery, fish farm, or other facility that contains, grows,
or holds aquatic animals as described in subitems (1) to (4).
(1) Cold water aquatic animal facilities that
produce more that 9,090 harvest weight kilograms (approximately 20,000 pounds)
of aquatic animals per year or feed more than 2,272 kilograms (approximately
5,000 pounds) of food during the calendar month of maximum feeding.
(2) Warm and cool water aquatic animal
facilities that produce more than 45,454 harvest weight kilograms
(approximately 100,000 pounds) of aquatic animals per year.
(3) Case-by-case designation of concentrated
aquatic animal production facilities. The commissioner may designate any warm,
cool, or cold water aquatic animal production facility as a concentrated
aquatic animal facility upon determining that it may cause a violation of an
applicable state or federal water quality rule or regulation. In making this
designation, the commissioner shall consider the following factors:
(a) the location and quality of the receiving
waters;
(b) the holding, feeding,
and production capacities of the facility; and
(c) the quantity and nature of the pollutants
reaching waters of the state.
A permit application is not required from a concentrated
aquatic animal production facility designated under this item until the
commissioner has conducted an on-site inspection of the facility and has
determined that the facility is required to be regulated under the permit
program. A permit is required under this subitem only after the facility has
been given notice of the commissioner's determination and an opportunity to
request a hearing as provided in part
7000.1800.
(4) Harvest weight is considered
the weight of aquatic animal product that leaves a production facility, minus
the weight of aquatic animal product that enters the same production
facility.
F. "Fish food"
means materials including processed feeds, grains and seeds, plants, plant
wastes, meat, and dead fish or other dead animal parts, but not including
living aquatic animals, for the purposes of sustaining growth, repairing vital
processes, or furnishing energy for aquatic animals present in the
facility.
G. "Warm and cool water
aquatic animals" means all other aquatic animals not included in the Salmonidae
family of fish.
Subp. 2.
Permit required.
No person may construct, operate, or maintain a concentrated
aquatic animal production facility until the agency has issued a national
pollutant discharge elimination system and state disposal system (NPDES/SDS)
permit for the facility according to chapter 7001. Production levels of
multiple projects and multiple stages of a single project that are connected
actions or phased actions shall be considered in total under subpart
1, item E.
Subp. 3.
Treatment technology discharge
requirements.
A. All concentrated
aquatic animal production facilities shall collect, remove, treat, and properly
dispose of unconsumed fish food and fish wastes.
B. All concentrated aquatic animal production
facilities that discharge industrial or other wastes to waters of the state
shall comply with the requirements of parts
7053.0225, subparts
1,
3,
4, and
5, and 7053.0275.
Subp. 4.
Additional
requirements.
Except as expressly excluded in this part, the construction,
operation, and maintenance of a concentrated aquatic animal production facility
shall comply with the requirements of this chapter and chapters 7050 and
7052.
Subp. 5. [Repealed,
38 SR 1001]
Subp. 6.
Special
conditions.
A. In addition to the
requirements for monitoring, testing, and reporting under part
7001.0150, subpart
2, item B, the permittee
shall report the aquatic animal production and amount of fish food used. The
commissioner may require the permittee to monitor receiving waters to determine
natural background levels and baseline quality and to determine compliance with
state and federal antidegradation and water quality standard requirements. The
monitoring shall consider natural seasonal and year-to-year variations in
background levels and baseline quality.
B. The permittee shall transport aquatic
animal mortalities for rendering or disposal at a land-based facility. Aquatic
animal mortalities shall not be disposed of in waters of the state. The
permittee shall prevent blood produced through harvest of aquatic animals from
entering waters of the state untreated. The blood generated shall be
transported to a land-based rendering or disposal facility approved by the
commissioner or discharged to a publicly owned treatment works according to the
applicable publicly owned treatment works national pollutant discharge
elimination system or state disposal system (NPDES/SDS) permit.
C. The permittee shall maintain an operation
record book of daily operations and other occurrences that may affect water
quality including addition of fish food, composition of fish food, aquatic
animal transfers and harvests, cleaning, mortalities, major weather events, and
power failures. The operation record book must be available at all times for
inspection and copying by the commissioner.
D. The permittee shall submit an annual
report to the commissioner. The report shall include:
(1) a general description of the operations
conducted for the past calendar year;
(2) a summary of the monitoring
data;
(3) the mass of aquatic
animals currently at the facility;
(4) aquatic animal production at the facility
for the past calendar year;
(5)
methods, amounts, and locations of the removal and disposal of waste fish food,
filter backwash, sludges, sediments, mortalities, and other accumulated solids
generated at the facility; and
(6)
proposed changes in operation or production for the coming year.
E. The discharge of water
treatment and chemical additives must comply with parts
7050.0218 and
7050.0221 to
7050.0227.
Statutory Authority: MS s
115.03;
115.44
