(a) A person may not, without a permit from the commissioner, construct or operate

(1) an aquatic farm; or

(2) a hatchery for the purpose of supplying aquatic plants or shellfish to an aquatic farm.

(b) A permit issued under this section authorizes the permittee, subject to the conditions of AS 16.40.100 - 16.40.199 and AS 17.20, to

(1) acquire, purchase, offer to purchase, transfer, possess, sell, and offer to sell stock and aquatic farm products that are used or reared at the hatchery or aquatic farm; and

(2) except as provided in (f) of this section, harvest and, without further cultivation, sell an insignificant population that may be present at the aquatic farm site of a wild stock of a shellfish species intended to be cultured at the site.

(c) The commissioner may attach conditions to a permit issued under this section that are necessary to protect natural fish and wildlife resources.

(d) Notwithstanding other provisions of law, the commissioner may not issue a permit under this section for the farming of, or hatchery operations involving, Atlantic salmon.

(e) Upon the expiration or termination of a permit issued under this section, a person who holds a permit for an aquatic farming site where wild stocks of shellfish indigenous to the site are cultured shall, as a condition of the permit, restore the wild stock of shellfish, as consistent with sustained yield management of the wild stock, to the population level that existed on the site when the permit for the site was initially issued by the commissioner. A permit holder is not required to restore that portion of the wild stock of shellfish that was removed from an aquatic farming site by a common property fishery conducted after the issuance of the permit for the aquatic farming site.

(f) If the wild stock of a shellfish species to be cultured at an aquatic farm site exceeds the amount determined by the department to be an insignificant population and if the commissioner determines in writing that removal from the site of that portion of the stock that exceeds an insignificant population would benefit the public and that removal of the stock by a person other than the permittee would unreasonably interfere with the operation of the aquatic farm, the commissioner may authorize the permittee to remove and sell the excess amount of the wild stock from the site, if the permittee pays reasonable compensation, as defined by the department, to the department for the harvest and sale of the excess wild stock. The department shall deposit the money received under this subsection into the general fund. The legislature may appropriate the money received under this section to the department for shellfish management and enhancement.

(g) The commissioner may not use the absence of wild geoduck stock within a management area described in AS 16.40.145 as the reason for denial of an aquatic farm permit under this section. If, under this section, the commissioner issues a permit for an aquatic farm to culture geoducks in a management area that does not have wild geoduck stocks when the permit is issued, the permit may not allow operations for that purpose in the intertidal habitat or environment.