La. Admin. Code tit. 51 § IX-141

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section IX-141 - Relaying of Shellfish [formerly paragraph 9:004]

A. No person shall engage in the business of relaying shellfish from waters not approved for direct market harvesting by the state health officer prior to obtaining a permit for that purpose from the Department of Health, Office of Public Health. Growing waters to be utilized for shellfish relaying purposes must meet or exceed the Department of Health's ' criteria for a restricted area classification. Applications shall be completed and submitted with a fee of $100, which shall be paid by cashier's check or money order and filed not less than 14 days prior to the beginning of such proposed relaying. Relaying of shellfish shall be permitted only during the first two weeks of each calendar month. The Louisiana Molluscan Shellfish Program shall allow the relay of suitable shellstock during all 12 months of the year.

B. The Louisiana Molluscan Shellfish Program hereby establishes species-specific critical values for water temperature and salinity, which may affect the natural treatment process in the growing are to which the shell stock Crassostrea virginica (American Oyster, Eastern Oyster) will be relayed.

1. The critical salinity tolerances Crassostrea virginica shall be established as 3 to 36 parts per thousand. Salinities shall be measured at approximately twelve inches below the water surface.

2. The critical temperature for Crassostrea virginica shall be established at temperatures 44-89 degrees Fahrenheit. Water temperatures shall be measured at approximately 12 inches below the water surface.

3. The species-specific critical pollution criteria shall be that the growing area for relay shall demonstrate through its historical data that the water quality can reasonably be expected to meet the approved or conditionally approved criteria.

4. Relay activities which expose shell stock to this range of temperature and salinity values for a minimum of fourteen days shall be considered as meeting the speciesspecific critical values for relay of Crassostrea virginica.

5. The requirement for monitoring environmental conditions of the relay area shall be accomplished by collecting bacteriological water sample data and salinity data from sample stations nearest the relay area which are actively collected each month by the program. Three sample stations which triangulate, if possible, the relay area will be selected to meet this monitoring requirement.

6. No studies of contaminant levels of poisonous or deleterious substances in shellstock shall be conducted on shellstock for relay unless there exists scientific evidence which indicates the relay shellstock contains a poisonous or deleterious substance(s) which exceed a FDA tolerance level(s), or it is known that relay shellstock have been exposed to high levels of poisonous or deleterious substances.

7. The growing area to be used for the treatment process shall be monitored with sufficient frequency to identify when limiting critical value of water temperature of 44-89 degrees Fahrenheit and salinity 3-36 parts per thousand may be approached.

8. The effectiveness of species-specific contaminated reduction shall be determined based on a study. The study report shall demonstrate that, after the completion of the relay activity, the microbiological quality of shellstock is the same microbiological quality as that of the same shellstock already present in the approved or conditionally approved area.

La. Admin. Code tit. 51, § IX-141

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health, LR 28:1300 (June 2002), Amended by the Department of Health, Office of Public Health, LR 481850 (7/1/2022), Amended LR 482139 (8/1/2022).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 40:4.A.(1), R.S. 40:5.A.(2)(3)(5)(7)(9)(15)(17)(19)(20) and R.S. 40:5.3.