Aquaculture Licence and Lease Regulations (N.S. Reg. 347/2015).

The present Regulations enact the Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act. The Regulations lay down provisions relating to aquaculture licence and lease. In particular, section 3 establishes that in making decisions related to marine aquaculture sites, the Review Board or Administrator must take all of the following factors into consideration: a) the optimum use of marine resources; b) the contribution of the proposed operation to community and Provincial economic development; c) fishery activities in the public waters surrounding the proposed aquacultural operation; d) the oceanographic and biophysical characteristics of the public waters surrounding the proposed aquacultural operation; e) the other users of the public waters surrounding the proposed aquacultural operation; f) the public right of navigation; g) the sustainability of wild salmon; h) the number and productivity of other aquaculture sites in the public waters surrounding the proposed aquacultural operation. The text – consisting of 77 sections – deals, inter alia, with the following aspects: marine aquaculture lease sites, duties of holder of an aquaculture lease, Review Board Authority, public participation in hearing, administrative decisions, special experimental lease, reports and records, fees, removal of leasehold improvements, fish health; aquaculture development areas, reallocated marine aquaculture sites, annual fees.