2. After December 31, 1991, the department may not issue a permit to any private, commercial, or industrial applicant for the discharge of any solid, semi-solid, or liquid wastes into the ocean waters of the State, the provisions of any other law, or rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding. Any permit issued by the department for the discharge of any such waste prior to January 1, 1992 shall expire on January 1, 1992, the provisions of any such permit to the contrary notwithstanding. The provisions of P.L.1989, c.119 shall not apply to permits applied for, or issued to, municipal treatment works, seafood processing facilities, public water supply desalinization plants, or aquaculture activities. As used in this act, “ocean waters” means those waters of the open seas lying seaward of the base line from which the territorial sea is measured, as provided for in the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone (15 UST 1606; TIAS 5639).

As used in this section, “aquaculture” means the propagation, rearing, and subsequent harvesting of aquatic organisms in controlled or selected environments, and the subsequent processing, packaging and marketing, and shall include, but need not be limited to, activities such as stocking, intervention in the rearing process to increase production, feeding, transplanting, and providing for protection from predators and shall not include the construction of facilities and appurtenant structures that might otherwise be regulated pursuant to any State or federal law or regulation, and “aquatic organism” means and includes, but need not be limited to, finfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants which are the property of a person engaged in aquaculture.

L.1989,c.119,s.2; amended 1997, c.236, s.28.