(a) For the purposes of this chapter “aquaculture” means the controlled cultivation and harvest in the waters and tidal wetlands of the state of aquatic animals and plants, including but not limited to, oysters, clams, mussels and other molluscan shellfish, lobsters and crabs, fish and commercially important seaweed.
(b) Connecticut's aquaculture is an integral part of the environmental resources of the state and provides an irreplaceable economic and recreational asset to the state's citizens. It is therefore declared to be the policy of the state to protect, to the maximum extent reasonable, the state's valuable aquaculture resources.