As used in this chapter:

1. (1) “Apalachicola Bay” means all Florida Waters within St. George Sound, East Bay in Franklin County, Apalachicola Bay, and St. Vincent Sound in Franklin County, and all Florida Waters within Indian Lagoon in Gulf County, including canals, channels, rivers, and creeks.
2. (2) “Bag” means an amount of culled oysters less than or equal to the volume of two five-gallon buckets or one ten-gallon bucket, or sixty pounds, whichever is less.
3. (3) “Closed area” means any area in which the taking or harvesting of oysters is prohibited pursuant to any applicable rule, order, or other action of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
4. (4) “Cull” or “culling” means to sort oysters immediately after they are taken out of the water, returning oysters which are not of legal size, and cleaning mud, bedding shell, rock, and other debris off of the retained oysters that are legal size.
5. (5) “Cultch” means oyster shell, rock, or other material suitable to support the settlement and growth of oyster larvae.
6. (6) “Cultching” or “cultched” means the placement of cultch material onto established oyster reefs to maintain the reef structure and provide areas suitable for oysters to settle and grow.
7. (7) “Department” means the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
8. (8) “Dredge” or “mechanical harvesting device” means a dredge, scrape, rake, drag, or other device that is towed by a vessel or self-propelled and that is used to harvest shellfish.
9. (9) “Harvest” means the taking of oysters by any means whatsoever, followed by a reduction of such oysters to possession. Oysters that are taken but immediately returned to the water are not harvested. The temporary possession of oysters for the purpose of culling shall not constitute harvesting such oysters, provided that, after culling, they are immediately returned to the water.
10. (10) “Harvest for commercial purposes” means to harvest oysters with the intent to sell. Sale of oysters in any amount shall automatically result in such oysters being characterized as commercially harvested.
11. (11) “Intertidal public reef” means a public reef located along the shoreline between the high-water mark and the low-water mark, and which may be exposed to air during low tide.
12. (12) “Oyster” means any wild mollusk of the species Crassostrea virginica.
13. (13) “Public reef” means an oyster reef in Florida Waters that is not located on submerged lands leased for shellfish culture by the State of Florida.
14. (14) “Subtidal public reef” means a public reef that remains submerged during low tide.
15. (15) “Tongs” means a hand-operated instrument used for gathering oysters consisting of a pair of long-handled rakes with inward-facing teeth. The term tongs does not include any device used for gathering oysters through any electrical, pneumatic, or hydraulic means.

Rulemaking Authority Art. IV, Sec. 9, Fla. Const. Law Implemented Art. IV, Sec. 9, Fla. Const. History–New 12-9-25.