7 Del. Admin. Code § 7504-1.0
The following words or phrase shall have the following definitions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Activity" includes, but is not limited to, any human induced action, such as dredging, draining, filling, grading, bulkheading, mining, drilling, extraction of materials or excavation or construction of any kind, including, but not limited to, construction of a boat ramp or slip, breakwater, residences, bridge, bulkhead, culvert, dam, derrick, dock, groin, jetty, lagoon, gabion, rip-rap, launching facility, marina, mooring facility, pier, seawall, walkway or wharf.
"Anchoring" means the holding of a vessel solely by means of an anchor which is dropped to underwater lands and which is carried aboard the vessel.
"Anchorage/Moorage" means a designated and permitted area reserved for the anchoring or mooring of vessels.
"Approved Upland Residential Unit(s)" means the residential units given final approval by a local government zoning agency for one parcel of land riparian to the adjacent or affected waterbody.
"Boat Docking Facility" means a place where a vessel or vessels may be secured to a fixed or floating structure, or moorage or mooring onto the shoreline or shoreline structure (including marginal docks), either temporarily or indefinitely.
"Commercial" means any activity undertaken for profit, for which a fee will be charged, directly or indirectly, or which results in the generation of revenue.
"Commercial Project" means any boat docking facility or anchorage, other than a single-boat pier, dock or anchorage intended to serve a single family dwelling.
"Convenience Structure" means any structure which provides access to a watercourse, including but not limited to, a boat ramp or slip, derrick, dock, dolphin, piling, launching facility, marina, mooring facility, pier, walkway or wharf; whether permanent or temporary, floating or fixed.
"Critical Habitat" includes areas classified by the Department and serving an essential role in the maintenance of sensitive species. Areas may include unique aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems that support rare endangered or threatened plants and animals. Rare, endangered or threatened species are defined by both state and/or federal listings.
"Cumulative Impacts" means the changes in an aquatic ecosystem that are attributable to the collective effect of a number of individual discharges or activities. Although the impact of a particular discharge or activity may be a minor change in itself, the cumulative effect may impair the water resources and interfere with the productivity, water quality, or public use of existing aquatic ecosystems.
"Department" means the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
"Dredging" means the removal or displacement, by artificial activities, of mud, soil, sand, gravel, shells or other material from subaqueous lands.
"Facility" means all related land, structures, services, appurtenances and improvements associated with an activity regulated under 7 Del.C. Ch. 72.
"Filled Lands" includes tidelands and submerged lands reclaimed artificially through raising such lands above the highest probable elevation of the tides to form dry land by placement of a fill or deposit of earth, rock, sand or other solid materials.
"Filling" means depositing materials from any source onto tidelands, submerged lands, wetlands or upland, whether for the purpose of creating new uplands or for any other purpose, including the disposal of dredged materials.
"Floating Platform" means any floating structure which has no means of propulsion or is not designed as a boating vessel.
"Governor" means the Governor of the State of Delaware.
"Lease" means an agreement for exclusive possession of lands for a determinate period.
"Marginal Dock" means a fixed or floating structure placed immediately contiguous and parallel to or including an established seawall, bulkhead, or revetment, used for the purpose of berthing vessels either temporarily or indefinitely.
"Marina" means a boat docking facility, as defined in the Department's Marina Regulations.
"Mean High Water" or "Mean High Tide" (a tidal datum) means the point on a bank, tide flat, beach or shore, up to which the presence and action of the water is so continuous as to leave a distinct mark either by erosion, destruction of terrestrial vegetation (non-aquatic), physical markings or characteristics, known vegetation lines, and maybe further identified by tidal gauge data, or any other suitable means delineating the mean height reached by a rising tide.
"Mean Low Water" or "Mean Low Tide" (a tidal datum) means the average lowest point on a bank, tide flat, beach or shore, found during normal tide conditions. This may be determined by physical or biological characteristics, interpolation from mean high water based on knowledge of tidal range for an area or tide gauge information, if corrected to account for local conditions.
"Mooring" means the holding of a vessel by means of a mooring buoy or similar device which is fastened to a stationary underwater device that is not carried aboard the vessel as regular equipment.
"Navigable Water" means a river, stream, lake, bay, inlet, or other waterway capable of having been or being used for transport of useful commerce, including waterways which become navigable as the result of alteration such as dredging. "Transport of useful commerce" shall include the transportation of goods or persons by water including, but not limited to, recreational transport, such as canoeing, rafting, sailing, tubing, water-skiing, motor boating or windsurfing.
"Ordinary High Water Line" means for nontidal waters, the line where the presence and action of the water are so continuous in all ordinary years so as to mark upon the soil of the bed, or character distinct from that of the banks, with respect to vegetation, as well as with respect to the nature of the soil itself.
"Person" means any individual, minor, partnership, corporation, joint venture, estate, trust, syndicate, fiduciary, firm and other association and combination whether public or private, including quasi-public corporations, political subdivisions, and governmental agencies, instrumentalities, and other entities.
"Pier" means a structure in, on, or over subaqueous lands which is used by the public primarily for fishing, crabbing, swimming, or viewing. A pier shall not include vessel berthing use unless specifically designated as such.
"Preemptive Area" means the area of public subaqueous lands from which the traditional public uses have been, or would be, excluded to any extent by an activity, structure, or vessel.
"Private Subaqueous Lands" means any subaqueous lands which are not public subaqueous lands.
"Public Interest" means demonstrable environmental, social, and economic benefits which would accrue to the public at large as a result of a proposed action, and which would exceed all demonstrable environmental, social, and economic costs of the proposed action. In determining the public interest in a request for use, sale, lease, or transfer of interest in subaqueous lands, the Department shall consider the ultimate project and purpose to be served by said use, sale, permit, lease, or transfer of lands or materials.
"Public Subaqueous Lands" means those subaqueous lands owned by the State of Delaware, including subaqueous lands which were altered or created from non-subaqueous lands by excavation or other means or through loss by natural processes or acts of God.
"Resident Vessel" means a live-aboard vessel docked or moored at an anchorage, marina, or other boat docking, facility for a period exceeding a total of two consecutive weeks in a single year.
"Riparian Habitat" means a habitat that is strongly influenced by water and which occurs in, or adjacent to, a waterbody (i.e. rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, bays, ocean, wetlands, etc.).
"Secondary Effects" are effects on an aquatic ecosystem that are associated with a discharge or activity, but do not directly result from the discharge or activity.
"Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
"Shoreline Erosion Control Structure or Measure" means any activity or structure which provides for stabilization of the shore or bank of a watercourse including, but not limited to, a bulkhead, breakwater, gabion, groin, jetty, rip-rap revetments, seawall, vegetation, and/or grading of banks.
"State" means the State of Delaware.
"Structure" includes, but is not limited to, any boat ramp, slip, building, breakwater, bridge, bulkhead, culvert, dam, derrick, dock, gabion, groin, jetty, residence, launching facility, marina, mooring facility, pier, seawall, walkway, or wharf.
"Subaqueous Lands" means submerged lands and tidelands.
"Submerged Lands" means land lying below the line of mean low tide in the beds of all tidal waters within the boundaries of the State, together with the beds (channel ward of ordinary high water in non-tidal waters) of navigable rivers, streams, lakes, bays, inlets, ponds, or other waterways within the boundaries of the State.
"Tidal Waters" means any waters affected by tide.
"Tidelands" means lands lying between the line of mean high water and the line of mean low water.
"Vessel" means and includes every description of watercraft, boat, houseboat, or other contrivance capable of navigating the waters of the State.
"Water-Dependent Activity" means an activity which can only be conducted on, in, over, or adjacent to water, and where the use of the water or subaqueous lands is a primary and integral part of the activity or use.
"Wetlands" means those lands defined as "Wetlands" in 7 Del.C. Ch. 66.
7 Del. Admin. Code § 7504-1.0