The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

1. (1) Aquaculture--The business of producing and selling cultured species raised in private facilities.
2. (2) Aquatic plant--All plants whose seeds germinate in either the water phase or the substrate of a body of water and which must spend part of the life cycle in water (Reid, G.K., and R.O. Wood 1976, Ecology of Inland Waters and Estuaries).

3. (3) Disease condition--

   1. (A) The presence of contagious pathogens or injurious parasites known or clinically suspected of constituting a threat to the health of native species of aquatic organisms; or
   2. (B) A mortality rate of five percent or more occurring within a period of seven days in a single enclosure.
4. (4) Enclosure--A structure in public water that is capable of preventing the escape of the stock confined within it and the entry of aquatic animal life from surrounding waters.
5. (5) Fishing--Taking or attempting to take aquatic animal life by any means.
6. (6) Native species--All fish, shellfish, or aquatic plants documented by the department to live, spawn, or reproduce in Texas offshore waters and whose first documented occurrence in Texas offshore waters was not the result of intentional or unintentional importation by man.
7. (7) Offshore aquaculture facility--All enclosures and associated infrastructure used to produce, hold, propagate, transport, or sell stock under authority of an offshore aquaculture permit.
8. (8) Outside waters--All the salt water of the state contiguous to and seaward from the shoreline of the state, along the Gulf of Mexico as the shoreline is projected and extended in a continuous and unbroken line, following the contours of the shoreline, across bays, inlets, outlets, passes, rivers, streams, and other bodies of water; including that portion of the gulf of Mexico from the shoreline extending outward three marine leagues (Natural Resources Code §11.012).
9. (9) Shellfish--Aquatic species of crustaceans and mollusks, including oysters, clams, shrimp, prawns, and crabs of all varieties.
10. (10) Stock--Native species of fish, shellfish, or aquatic plants intended for use in, being transported to, or contained within an offshore aquaculture facility under the terms of an offshore aquaculture permit.
11. (11) Waste--As defined in Water Code, §26.001.

Source Note:The provisions of this §57.251 adopted to be effective April 11, 2007, 32 TexReg 2012.