Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit and Registration Cards

As a shellfish aquaculture leaseholder, you are responsible to complete and return your Application for Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit and Registration Cards to the department. You should have received a Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit/Registration Cards Frequently Asked Questions form with your Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit packet.

Permitees will receive both a Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit and a Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Registration Card. Registrants will be issued a Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Registration Card only. All individuals conducting aquaculture activities on the lease including permittees must have a Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Registration Card on their person at all times. The department will mail all permits, registration cards, monthly report forms and reporting instructions to the primary leaseholder/permittee. That individual will then be responsible for distributing other permittee and registrant cards as appropriate.

Please note that if NO permittees or registrants are on file with the department, NO ONE will have authorization to conduct aquaculture activities on the lease. If this is the case, the commercial usage requirements could not be met and the lease may be terminated. Additionally, anyone who works the lease without proper permits or cards is subject to citations.

Aquaculture Declaration and DNR ID

In order to securely and effectively comply with the current legal and regulatory requirements, each Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permittee and Registrant must obtain a DNR ID and Aquaculture Declaration prior to being issued a Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit (SAHP) or Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Registration Card (SAHRC). Please visit the MDDNR Maryland Outdoors Licensing System (formerly COMPASS) to create or login to your account, and follow the steps on this instructions document​ to obtain the free Aquaculture Declaration.

Harvester Education​​

Obtaining an Aquaculture Declaration in the MD Outdoors system is only necessary once per individual; however, all harvesters are required to complete harvester education training at least once every five years by verifying that they have reviewed the aquaculture Harvester Education Training Guide​ and signing a Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Verification and Signature Form. It is a leaseholder's responsibility to ensure that all individuals for whom they are requesting a harvester card have completed the training. If training is current for all individuals for whom harvester cards are being requested, there is no need to submit a new verification and signature form. But if training has lapsed or a harvester is new to the industry, a leaseholder must submit a completed verification and signature form together with either a Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit Application (for new or transferred lease) or Shellfish Aquaculture Harvester Permit Modification Form (for an existing lease) for those individuals. A harvester can verify their last trained date by sending an email request with their full name, birth date and DNRID to [email protected]​.