Aquaculture Leasing
Board of Trustees
The Florida Legislature and the Governor and Cabinet, sitting as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, have recognized that it is in the state's economic, resource and food production interests to promote aquacultural production by leasing sovereign submerged lands*. Florida's Aquaculture Lease Program [PDF] for sovereignty submerged state lands and the overlying water column is administered by the Division of Aquaculture's Bureau of Aquaculture Development. The policies, conditions, and criteria for using sovereign state lands for aquacultural production are provided in the Florida Aquaculture Policy Act and the Florida Administrative Code, with authorization for their use from the Governor and Cabinet.
*Sovereign Submerged Lands: State waters in the Atlantic Ocean is three (3) nautical miles seaward from shore and in the Gulf of Mexico it is nine (9) nautical miles seaward from shore. A nautical mile is defined as 6,076.11549 feet.
Requirements
Persons wishing to lease submerged lands to conduct aquacultural activities must submit awritten application as prescribed in Chapter 253, Florida Statutes (F.S.), and Chapter 18-21, Florida Administrative Code. The Division of Aquaculture will provide an application form [PDF], guidelines for completing the application, and a list of steps involved in the application review and approval processes.
Lease Development Process
Aquaculture lease application guidelines, pursuant to section 253.68, F.S., divide the process into four steps. The first step involves identifying a lease site, describing the proposed activity and developing a business plan. This is followed by a comprehensive review. The comprehensive review may take from four to six weeks, depending upon the complexity of the application. As part of the review process, a site inspection will be made by staff to determine whether or not the site is appropriate for leasing for the proposed use. In cases where the proposed locations are performed not to be suitable, additional filled surveys and site inspections may be necessary to modify the initial site boundaries. When the application is deemed to be complete, a notice of the lease application is provided to local entities. Finally, any lease of state-owned submerged lands must be authorized by the Governor and Cabinet in their role as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund.
