State officials recently announced approval of a streamlined permitting process for the state's first commercial aquaculture program, but it will still be a while before Delawareans see locally harvested shellfish on the menu.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control proposed a statewide activity approval process for aquaculture in spring 2016 – three years after commercial shellfish aquaculture in the Inland Bays was signed into law. Officials announced Dec. 22 that the streamlined permitting process, which will simplify how acreage in the Inland Bays will be leased, had been officially adopted.
But fishermen like Steve Friend, who has invested more than $70,000 in equipment in anticipation of the state's first aquaculture program, still have to wait a while longer before they can plant their first oyster seed in the bays.
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