31 Tex. Admin. Code § 69.203 - Definitions
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Commission--The Texas
Parks and Wildlife Commission.
(2)
Department--The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
(3) Depth--Water depth at mean low
water.
(4) Director--The executive
director of the department.
(5)
Dredge spoils--The waste or refuse discarded onto the bottom from the dredge or
associated vessels during dredging or the washing and screening of the dredged
material.
(6) Dredging
activities--All marine operations related to recovery of mudshell conducted by
or at the request or direction of the permittee, including but not expressly
limited to the movement of dredges, the placement of anchors or buoys, actual
dredging operations, the stockpiling and holding of dredged shell, the disposal
of waste or overburden, the movement of tugboats or any other form of vessel or
equipment utilized in connection with the overall dredging operation, the
movement of crewboats or any supply and support vessels, or any description or
any combination of these acts. The movement of survey and crewboats engaged in
the exploration for buried mudshell deposits even when operating outside of the
permitted area is not considered a dredging activity under the definition. The
movement of vessels and equipment when in an authorized and marked navigation
channel, including private channels which are established under the provisions
of state and federal authorities for private channels, is not considered a
dredging activity.
(7) Exposed
reef--Any natural or man-made exposed deposit of oyster or other marine shell
that constitutes a part of the bay bottom.
(8) General permit--The written permission
given to an applicant by the department granting him the privilege to dredge
buried shell from the waters of designated state land tracts or portions
thereof in accordance with the provisions of these rules and
regulations.
(9) Major
violation--Includes, but is not limited to, dredging activities in a state land
tract which is not included in the general or special permit; operating without
a permit; dredging or operating closer than 300 feet to a known exposed reef of
any size or closer than 300 feet to an uncharted exposed reef one acre or more
in size, or except within 100 feet of an exposed reef in state Tracts 74, 101,
102, and 106 in San Antonio Bay; dredging or operating within 1/2 mile of
shore; dredging or operating in marginal waters less than four feet in depth;
failure to respond to a stop activity order given as a result of any violation;
failure to map and mark the edges of all exposed reefs within 1,500 feet of any
dredging prior to the commencement of any dredging within an authorized tract;
dredging an exposed reef 1/2 acre or larger; dredging an exposed reef of less
than 1/2 acre without permission from the director; dredging in a tract not
designated as open by the director; operating more than one dredge at one time
in a single bay system or failure to use a silt screen when required to do so
by the department agent.
(10)
Marginal waters less than four feet deep--All waters of the bay extending out
from the shoreline including the shoreline of natural islands to the first
contour line where the water has a depth of four feet at mean low
water.
(11) Minor
violation--Siltation of exposed reef in excess of a trace as defined in this
section. These siltations may be the direct result of dredging shell or may be
caused by related dredging activities as defined in this section, such as
towboats handling shell barges or by other dredging activities.
(12) One year--Any period of 365 consecutive
days.
(13) Operations--Any aspects
of shell dredging activities engaged by any permittee exclusive of exploration
by the use of survey and crew boats for buried mudshell and marking the limits
of an exposed reef.
(14)
Permittee--The person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or entity
who has applied for and has been granted a permit to dredge shell from the
state-owned waters by the department, and the term includes the agent,
servants, and employees of the permit holder.
(15) Siltation--The placement or deposition
of sediments on exposed reefs either directly by, or as an incident to, shell
dredging activities (including the operation of barges and towboats) as well as
indirectly (as when the disturbed sediments are moved or assisted in movement
by wind, waves, current or tides). Fresh silt from dredging activities can be
differentiated from natural silt by its chemical and/or physical properties.
Degree of siltation will be determined by the criteria described in the
technical report to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, November 1967,
Shell Dredging, A Factor in Sedimentation in Galveston Bay, published by the
University of Texas.
(A) A scale of zero to
five as shown below will be assigned for different silt readings obtained from
silt baskets and tong samples of oyster shell from the reef surface.
(B) A
"trace of silt" is indicated when the bottoms of the cups of dead oyster shell
are found to contain a thin layer of fine gray sediment which is discernible to
the eye.
(C) A "coating of silt" is
determined when shell cups of dead oyster shell are full of fine gray
silt.
(16) Special
permit--The written permission given to an applicant by the department granting
him the privilege of dredging areas not authorized under a general permit and
subject to the conditions specified in the special permit.
(17) Violation by accident or act of
God--With the sole exception of the actual operation of the dredge, shall not
be a violation by the permittee if a barge or vessel encounters an exposed
reef.
Notes
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