Lease FAQs

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Sites are selected by the applicants. A good starting point for site selection is the DMF Shellfish Lease Siting Tool or the Benthic Mapping Tool managed by University of North Carolina at Wilmington, which provides visual representation of data related to salinity, bottom depth, and shellfish growing area classifications.

Before applying for a lease, you should visit the area to verify that the site will work for you. We recommend talking to local leaseholders, adjacent land/homeowners, and other members of the public. This helps you become more familiar with the area, and those who may frequent the area. Talking to other lease holders in the area also helps give you an idea of how successful the area is for growing oysters and if there are any potential conflicts.

Yes. Leases cannot be sited on bottom that has an existing shellfish resource, where certain percentages of submerged aquatic vegetation are present during the growing season, in waters that have been closed to shellfish harvest due to bacterial contamination, within 250 feet of a developed shoreline, in an area with a recognized submerged lands claim, or in a navigational channel. There are other restrictions that must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, including conflicts with existing public trust uses such as fishing, boating, and recreational activities. More information on lease requirements.

There are many factors that affect the length of the application process; they include but are not limited to the number of applications, missing information or improper information in the application, size and location of the proposed area, potential needed adjustments to the lease, time of year, weather, and staff resources. The process is lengthy and there are five general application phases:

  1. Application Review and Siting – Once we review your application, we send out temporary signs for you to mark the proposed site. 
  2. Biological Investigation – After the area is marked we complete a biological investigation and verify the size. 
  3. Agency Reviews – This report is sent for internal review within Division of Marine Fisheries sections (Fisheries Management, Marine Patrol, Shellfish Sanitation), Division of Coastal Management, Division of Water Resources, US Army Corps of Engineers, and other pertinent state agencies. 
  4. Public Hearing – If the site meets the criteria in G.S. 113-202 (a), a formal request is made to schedule a public hearing, and once approved, the hearing is scheduled at a venue in the county of the proposed site. 
  5. Decision – After the public hearing is held, that information is presented to the director for a decision. The division works with the applicant to mitigate any issues identified in each step of the process. 

Public hearings are advertised in the local paper of the county of the proposed lease twice. The ads run at least 21 days (normally 30 days) prior to the hearing and within seven to 11 days of each other. The division posts all Shellfish Lease hearings on its website. Interested parties can also receive information on all public hearings by subscribing to the division’s News Releases Distribution List. The Shellfish Lease Program’s webpage is also a valuable source of information regarding all steps of the lease application process.

No. Shellfish leasing is for commercial production. Shellfish harvested from a lease must be sold to a licensed dealer and commercial production standards must be met.

A good starting point is through N.C. Sea Grant. Eric Herbst is the SeaGrant Coastal Aquaculture Specialist. He can provide technical assistance and information to those interested or already involved with shellfish aquaculture. Email Eric Herbst at echerbst@ncsu.edu.

A lease is a piece of public trust bottom for which leaseholders are charged a yearly rent fee and have renewable contractual obligations. A franchise is a commercial shellfish aquaculture operation located on a recognized submerged land claim. Because franchise owners have deeded rights to the bottom, some of the lease and franchise rules differ. Statutes now prohibit granting private deeds on public trust bottom. 

All aquaculture related permit information can be found here.