Back to: Leasing & Permitting 101
For many farmers, the process of gaining the legal rights to officially start your farm can be a drawn-out and complicated journey full of unexpected roadblocks. This is when all the hard work you’ve done in planning and organizing up to this point comes in handy. The contacts you made early on during your site evaluation process, the data you collected about your potential farm site, the time you spent finessing your farm design or sketching your business plan—all of these pieces will come together in your lease and permit applications to regulatory bodies, through which you request the legal rights to start your farm. The more organized and prepared you are starting off, the smoother and faster your leasing and permitting process will ultimately be.
Leases are typically granted by a state agency but can also be issued by a township or county. By acquiring a lease, you pay for the private rights to use a section of publicly-held water for personal gain. Leases are often granted for a set duration of time, after which you may have to renew your application. In most cases, leases are demarcated by a set of GPS coordinates, referred to in acres, and give you the rights to use the entire water column within that defined area and install anchors on the seafloor. Your entire gear area, including your anchors, must fit within your lease.
While a lease gives you access to a section of the water column, a permit grants you permission to conduct your business there. Different agencies might issue different types of permits, and your business may require multiple permits from separate entities at different levels of oversight (local, regional, state, and/or federal) depending on the location of your farm and the nature of your business.
A lease is a right-to-use agreement that gives you permission to use a section of commonly-held ocean for commercial farm activities.
A permit grants permission to conduct a certain type of business on your lease—in this case, ocean farming.
Ask yourself are there already licensed commercial seaweed farms in your state?
The short answer is: it depends. If you’re starting from scratch and applying for a first-time lease and permit, it could take anywhere between a few months to a few years to secure all the relevant licenses. If you’re already an ocean farmer or plan to operate on a pre-approved site, then it may only take a few months to modify an existing permit to incorporate kelp.
The process of applying for a lease and a permit will vary widely depending on the requirements of your state and how many agencies are involved. In some cases, different agencies may work together to issue a lease or permit. The “lead agency” generally refers to the entity that issues the first permit in the string of permissions required to site and operate your ocean farm. This agency takes on the administrative and environmental review of your application. Typically, after you submit an application to the lead agency, you’ll wait to hear if it’s been accepted before submitting subsequent applications.
The permitting process in your state might involve getting permission from your local shellfish commission or harbormaster; from your state Aquaculture agency, Fisheries or Wildlife Department, and/or Department of Agriculture and Public Health; along with Federal agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and/or the U.S. Coast Guard. Also, keep in mind that sometimes, leasing and permitting processes are species dependent—kelp and shellfish may be regulated differently.
Some states will provide you with a checklist to use as a guide in preparing your application. If one is not available, we highly recommend compiling a list of all the agencies and related permits and licenses required in your state. Start with the information available in the state-by-state dropdown menu in the next lesson.
Most states have at least one period, if not multiple, in the permitting process for the public to offer comments on a proposed farm application. These comments could either voice concern or offer support for your project. Comments are typically submitted to the permitting agency, and you, as the applicant, may need to respond. The more timely, informative, and polite your response is, the more likely your project will gain credibility and public support.
The public comment period is an important part of safeguarding a commonly-held resource. Remember, no one person owns the ocean. Many different types of stakeholders might have different types of concerns about giving permission for a commercial business to operate in public waters. This is why getting buy-in from your local community is critical to the ultimate success of your farm. You’ll need to become a de facto spokesperson for the ocean farming industry, good at describing all the ways ocean farms provide positive benefits to coastal communities. It’s also why it’s important to reach out to different stakeholders early in the site evaluation process to address their concerns before they ever feel the need to issue a public comment. If there is strong public opposition to your project, your application may be denied.
Read a heated debate in the comments section of a North Carolina newspaper op-ed opposing oyster farming in the region. This exchange is a good example of the type of public misunderstanding of and reticence toward the ocean farming industry that you might face and the public education and advocacy that may be required to gain support in your region.