Permit Reef

The Permit Tracker

The current path, charted end to end.

This is the route as it exists today for a California shellfish or seaweed operation — which path applies to your project, every agency that reviews it, what each step costs and how long it takes, and where the soundings run out. Everything is sourced; where a number isn't published we say so, and where we propose a better one it's labeled proposed.

The people staffing these agencies are, in our experience, trying to do a careful job with overlapping mandates and thin budgets. The difficulty here is structural, not personal — and it's fixable. Charting it is the first step.

The Permit Tracker is a route map compiled by Permit Reef from published agency pages. Covers California shellfish and seaweed only. Every outside link on this page was last checked automatically on Sep 18, 2026, and it is re-checked weekly. The agency's own published page and notice remain the legal record.

One-page route summaryA route for my situation

Time and fee ranges on this page are compiled estimates from published agency pages and published reports, not quotes. Each step carries the date its agency page was last checked. A read-only copy of the same steps is published at /api/public/route-map.json for courses and other tools.

What this chart covers

Every kind of California shellfish and seaweed operation.

Scope · shellfish & seaweed

Bivalves and seaweed, in the water or on land, at any scale — plus the hatchery, nursery, and restoration work that feeds them. The sequence below bends by species, gear, and location, but the tracks are the same.

  • Bivalve shellfish

    Oyster, clam, mussel, scallop — intertidal, rack-and-bag, longline, and bottom culture.

  • Seaweed & macroalgae

    Kelps, Gracilaria, Ulva, Pyropia — longline, tank, and integrated culture.

  • Hatchery, nursery & seed

    Seed, spore, and biobanking operations, including upland and flow-through facilities.

  • Land-based & restorative

    Tank and raceway systems, plus restoration and enhancement projects that grow living stock.

Step one

Which route applies to you.

Five routes carry nearly every California project. They differ by years and by an order of magnitude in cost, so this is the single most valuable thing to get right before spending a dollar.

  1. Route A · the short crossing

    Lease inside a pre-permitted footprint

    Shortest route today

    Humboldt Bay tidelands today; limited equivalents in San Diego Bay.

    The shortest documented route in California. The Harbor District already carried the environmental review; qualified growers lease into the cleared envelope.

    See the pre-permitted comparison
    Typical time
    3–9 mo
    Up-front cost
    < $10K
    Environmental review
    Covered by the District's certified program EIR

    1. Route B

      Change species or gear on an existing lease

      Longer timeline

      Operating growers adding a species or modifying structures.

      Typical time
      12–60 mo
      Up-front cost
      $10K–$150K
      Environmental review
      Amendment; often a new CEQA determination

      On paper this is paperwork. In practice a species change commonly runs 2–5 years because the amendment reopens review.

      See which agencies reopen

    2. Route C

      Renew an existing lease

      Longer timeline

      Growers at the end of a lease term.

      Typical time
      18–36 mo
      Up-front cost
      $5K–$60K
      Environmental review
      Usually a shorter CEQA path

      Start early. Renewal clocks routinely outlast the remaining term if filed late.

      See the clocks side by side

    3. Route D

      New state water bottom or water-column lease

      Longest timeline

      New entrants siting in open state waters.

      Typical time
      60–120 mo
      Up-front cost
      $150K–$500K+
      Environmental review
      Full CEQA, usually an EIR

      The four-phase Fish & Game Commission process below, plus the full agency chain. This is where most small projects stop.

      Walk the four-phase process

    4. Route E

      Land-based / upland facility

      Longer timeline

      Tank systems, hatcheries, nurseries, and processing-adjacent grow-out.

      Typical time
      9–30 mo
      Up-front cost
      $15K–$120K
      Environmental review
      Local CEQA lead; discharge permit if applicable

      No state tidelands lease, but county planning, water supply and discharge, and CDFW registration still apply.

      See the local + water rows

Step two

The chain of review.

Tap a tag to highlight those rows below.

Grouped by the work each stage actually is, rather than by which building it happens in. Not every project touches every row — each card says who it applies to. Many run in sequence because one approval is an input to the next, which is exactly the coordination problem worth fixing.

01

Siting & lease

Who may hold water, and on what terms.

  1. CA Fish & Game Commission (CFGC) — State agency
    CA Fish & Game Commission (CFGC)State

    Lease approval and public-interest determination (FGC §15400). CDFW staff administers the four-phase application; the Commission grants the lease.

    Applies to: New lease · renewal · species change

    12–36 mo$1.5K–$10KAgency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
  2. State Lands Commission — State agency
    State Lands CommissionState

    Tidelands and bottom lease interest where the site sits on state sovereign land.

    Applies to: New lease · renewal

    12–24 mo$1K–$8K + rentAgency page
    Agency page link checked Sep 18, 2026
  3. Harbor / port district — Local agency
    Harbor / port districtLocal

    Where a district holds granted tidelands (Humboldt Bay, San Diego), the district is the leasing and CEQA lead agency.

    Applies to: Pre-permitted footprint

    3–9 moVariesAgency page
    Agency page link checked Sep 18, 2026
02

Environmental review

The analysis that has to exist before a decision can be made.

  1. CEQA lead agency — State agency
    CEQA lead agencyState

    Initial Study, then a Negative Declaration or EIR. The lead is CFGC for state leases, or the district/county where they hold the approval.

    Applies to: Most new and amended projects

    12–48 mo$60K–$250K consultantAgency page
    Agency page link checked Sep 18, 2026
  2. California Coastal Commission — State agency
    California Coastal CommissionState

    Coastal development permit or federal consistency determination.

    Applies to: Coastal zone projects

    12–24 mo$2K–$15KAgency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
  3. Tribal consultation — Tribal government
    Tribal consultationTribal

    AB 52 and SB 18 where triggered; in the Chumash Heritage NMS zone, ONMS §304(d) co-stewardship applies. Permit Reef treats this as partnership, not a checkbox.

    Applies to: Where triggered by location

    3–12 mo—Agency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
03

Water & federal

Water quality, navigation, and protected species.

  1. Regional Water Board (RWQCB) — State agency
    Regional Water Board (RWQCB)State

    Section 401 water quality certification; waste discharge requirements for land-based systems.

    Applies to: All in-water and discharging projects

    6–18 mo$500–$5KAgency page
    Agency page link checked Sep 18, 2026
  2. USACE — Federal agency
    USACEFederal

    Section 10 / 404 authorization for structures and work in navigable waters.

    Applies to: All in-water structures

    12–36 moFree–$100Agency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
  3. NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) & USFWS — Federal agency
    NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) & USFWSFederal

    ESA and MMPA consultation, essential fish habitat review.

    Applies to: Where listed species or habitat occur

    6–24 moFreeAgency page
    Agency page link checked Sep 18, 2026
04

Food safety & product

What has to be true before anyone eats it.

  1. CDPH — shellfish sanitation — State agency
    CDPH — shellfish sanitationState

    NSSP growing-area classification, harvest controls, certification, and tagging for bivalves.

    Applies to: All bivalve shellfish

    3–9 mo$1K–$5KAgency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
  2. CDPH — processed food registration — State agency
    CDPH — processed food registrationState

    Processed Food Registration and HACCP where processing occurs. Seaweed as a food sits on partly unsettled ground — see Known Gaps.

    Applies to: Seaweed and processed product

    2–6 mo$500–$2KAgency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
  3. County environmental health — Local agency
    County environmental healthLocal

    Facility, water supply, and handling review for shoreside and upland operations.

    Applies to: Land-based and processing

    1–6 moVariesAgency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
05

Operate & keep current

The part that never ends.

  1. CDFW — annual registration — State agency
    CDFW — annual registrationState

    Aquaculture registration for every facility, every year (FGC §15101, 14 CCR §235, form DFW 750).

    Applies to: Every operation, every year

    1–3 mo~$500 baseAgency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
  2. CDFW — stock movement & health — State agency
    CDFW — stock movement & healthState

    Importation, transfer, and disease inspection approvals for seed, spore, and broodstock.

    Applies to: Any stock movement

    1–4 moVariesAgency page
    Checked Sep 18, 2026 · the page did not answer our automatic check, so open it yourself
  3. Local use permit — Local agency
    Local use permitLocal

    County or city use permit, plus lease-condition reporting and monitoring obligations.

    Applies to: Most shoreside footprints

    3–12 moVaries widelyAgency page
    Agency page link checked Sep 18, 2026

Fee ranges are drawn from published schedules plus practitioner reports. Where a schedule isn't published, Permit Reef proposes a small-business-friendly default and labels it "proposed" rather than presenting it as fact.

Step three · the money

What the path costs.

These lines add up. No single one sinks a farm — one business pays all of them, in the same season, before a single oyster or blade is sold.

What a small farm can raise$50K to $250K

Typical co-op or family operation's total starting capital — gear, boat, labor, and permitting combined. [est. — range from grower interviews]

Solid = floor (cheapest plausible) · faded = ceiling (upper end of the range).
Past the dashed line = past the ~$250K a small farm can raise at all. Individual lines rarely cross it — the stack does.
Flags measure each line against that raise, not against the chart:under a quarter of it ·a third or more ·nearly all of it.Hover or tap any flag for the detail.
past what a small farm can raise →Beyond small-farm capacity
Agency application & filing fees10% of the raise$5K floor→$25K ceiling

CDFW + SLC + RWQCB + USACE filing fees. [est. — many fees are not published]

Biological & site surveys48% of the raise$25K floor→$120K ceiling
Ceiling

Eelgrass, benthic, marine mammal, and water quality baselines.

Environmental review document100% of the raise$60K floor→$250K ceiling
FloorCeiling

Assembling the CEQA document itself — the consultant's scope.

Agency cost recovery & staff time24% of the raise$10K floor→$60K ceiling

Billed staff review hours and cost-recovery agreements on a new lease.

Legal, entity, insurance & engineering18% of the raise$15K floor→$45K ceiling

Entity formation, lease counsel, liability coverage, and gear drawings.

All of the above, one business, one new lease$115K floor→$500K+ ceiling

Each segment is one line above, at its ceiling, laid end to end. The stack clears the whole small-farm raise before the farm buys a single anchor — which is why the all-in figure growers and consultants report for a new lease lands at $150K–$500K+.

$0
$100K
$250K
$500K

The environmental review lines are the ones that decide most projects. Reusable templates and pre-permitted footprints are the two levers that move them — a lease inside a cleared footprint deletes most of this stack.

Step three · the clock

How long the path takes.

Not a ranking — a calendar. Month zero is the first call to the state. Phases overlap where the work runs in parallel, and the dashed red line is the runway a small farm starts with: about 15 months.

Each bar spans the months that phase occupies.Typical small-farm runway · 15 months.

New lease in open water · the long crossing

  1. 1Pre-application & project design0 mo – 9 mo

    Coordinator contact, site selection, gear design, informal agency soundings.

  2. 2Application, staff vetting & 90-day notice6 mo – 1 yr 6 mo

    Lease application to the Commission, requirements review, public notice, committee scheduling.

  3. 3Environmental review — Initial Study → EIR or ND1 yr 3 mo – 5 yr 3 mo

    The longest single stretch, and the one that decides most projects.

  4. 4Water quality & federal authorizations2 yr 6 mo – 5 yr 6 mo

    Section 401 certification, USACE Section 10/404, ESA and MMPA consultation — largely in parallel.

  5. 5Coastal permit & tribal consultation3 yr – 6 yr

    Coastal development permit or consistency determination; AB 52 / SB 18 and co-stewardship work.

  6. 6Commission decision & lease execution5 yr 3 mo – 6 yr 6 mo

    CEQA certification, public-interest determination, and the lease vote — one meeting, three actions.

  7. 7Registration, gear in water, first harvest6 yr 6 mo – 8 yr

    Annual CDFW registration, CDPH classification and harvest controls, then product.

1 yr
2 yr
3 yr
4 yr
5 yr
6 yr
7 yr
8 yr

Total, start to first harvest: 8 yr

Pre-permitted footprint · the short crossing

  1. 1District lease inside a pre-permitted footprint0 mo – 6 mo

    Harbor or port district leasing process where granted tidelands are already cleared.

  2. 2Tiering onto the existing environmental review3 mo – 9 mo

    The heavy analysis already exists — the project attaches to it instead of rebuilding it.

  3. 3Registration & gear in water6 mo – 1 yr 2 mo

    Same registration and food-safety steps as any other operation.

1 yr
2 yr
3 yr
4 yr
5 yr
6 yr
7 yr
8 yr

Total, start to first harvest: 1 yr 2 mo

Same water, same food-safety rules, one to two years instead of eight — because the environmental review already exists.

Changes to an operation already in the water

  1. Gear modification approval1 yr

    Even minor changes to existing infrastructure.

  2. Lease renewal2 yr

    On an already-operating lease.

  3. Species change on existing lease3 yr 6 mo

    Switching from one shellfish or seaweed species to another.

Step four · route D in detail

Approved by the Commission · 8/23/2023

The four phases of a new state water bottom lease.

This is the official Fish & Game Commission flow, including the Public Interest Determination added in 2023. Phases run sequentially. Permit Reef tracks where a live application sits in the flow and what it's waiting on.

  1. 0Phase 0

    Enhanced pre-application

    Prospective applicant contacts the CDFW Aquaculture Coordinator. Pre-application consultation, project design, informal consultation with agencies of jurisdiction.

  2. 1Phase 1

    Initial vetting & scoping

    Lease application submitted to CFGC. Requirements review by staff. CSLC and CDPH consultation. 90-day public notice if requirements are met. MRC and Tribal Committee discussion scheduled.

  3. 2Phase 2

    In-depth analysis

    CEQA Initial Study, then EIR or Negative Declaration. Social and economic considerations analysis. Public Interest Considerations evaluation. Tribal consultation. Agency partner comments.

  4. 3Phase 3

    Commission decision

    CFGC receives the CEQA document, the public interest analysis, and staff recommendations. Three discretionary actions in one meeting: CEQA certification, public interest determination, lease decision.

Source: California Fish & Game Commission — Figures Displaying Steps in the Enhanced Process for Applications for New State Water Bottom Leases for Aquaculture (approved 8/23/2023). Full document on the Resources page.

CDFW Figure 1 — Aquaculture Lease Application Process, Phases 0 through 3. Full overview flowchart from Phase 0 (pre-application) through Phase 3 (Commission decision) showing CDFW, CFGC, MRC/TC swim-lanes plus public comment and interagency coordination bars.
Figure 1. Aquaculture Lease Application Process, Phases 0–3 (overview).Click to open full-size.
CDFW Figure 2 — Phases 0 and 1 detailed. Pre-application consultation, lease application submission, requirements confirmation, CSLC and CDPH consultation, and initiation of CEQA/MRC/TC meetings with tribal notification.
Figure 2. Phases 0 & 1 — pre-application + initial vetting (detailed).Click to open full-size.
CDFW Figure 3 — Phases 2 and 3 detailed. CEQA Initial Study, social/economic considerations analysis, MRC/TC review, Public Interest Determination, and the final lease decision with CEQA determination by the Commission.
Figure 3. Phases 2 & 3 — CEQA, Public Interest Determination, lease decision (detailed).Click to open full-size.

Figures reproduced from the CFGC-approved process document (8/23/2023). Tagged real-data.

Route A · the short crossingThe shortcut that already exists

Humboldt Bay shows the model works.

The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District (HBHRCD) is the lead agency there. The District carried its own Mariculture Pre-Permitting EIR (SCH #2017032068, certified 2018; intertidal expansion certified 2023) through CEQA, the Coastal Commission, USACE, and the Regional Board on behalf of the whole footprint — and now issues tideland leases directly to qualified growers inside that already-permitted envelope. New entrants step into a pre-cleared program instead of running the full chain alone. San Diego Bay has limited equivalent paths. The rest of California's coast does not have one yet.

This is the proof of concept for the whole effort: one agency doing the heavy review once, so twenty farms don't each repeat it. Inside the working desk, the permit wizard surfaces these pre-permitted footprints automatically when you pick a location.

Pre-permitted lease vs. solo new lease

Timeline
3–9 mo
60–120 mo
Up-front cost
< $10K
$150K–$500K+
Project-level EIR
Usually no
Yes, almost always
Risk for small farm
Survivable
Rarely survivable

Federal context

NOAA's Aquaculture Opportunity Areas.

NOAA's programmatic work produced Atlas and AOA identification reports for the Southern California Bight — the closest thing the U.S. has to a pre-screened siting layer. Useful precedent, imperfect fit. We surface it so growers and agencies can see what already exists federally before California writes its own.

Read our full analysis of the NOAA precedent →
ProcessNOAA WCR Final PEIS · signed 9/10/2025 by NMFS West Coast RAReal data
Selected alternativeAlternative 4b · all types of aquaculture · Santa Barbara Channel + Santa Monica BayReal data
Species framingFederal scope is broader than California's shellfish- and seaweed-only policyReal data
Tiered review for small farmsProgrammatic, but no small-farm carve-outReal data
2026 California caseOcean Rainforest CC-0003-21 · federal-consistency approval with phased safeguards · Corps authorization remained separateReal data
What CA should adoptPre-screened siting atlas · shared baseline · transparent suitabilityProposed
What CA should addShellfish and seaweed scope · small-farm tier · Tribal co-stewardshipProposed

Sources: NOAA Southern California AOA record; California Coastal Commission consistency certification CC-0003-21, cited by item number at the Coastal Commission. The Commission action was not a coastal development permit, state lease, or final construction authorization.

Where the chart actually stands

Soundings taken so far.

We won't paper over how early this is. Every counter below is current, and it moves as the work does — tap one to see the work behind it.

11/13

Agencies mapped

See the chain of review

4/24

Public datasets ingested

Browse the source documents

18/many

Permit forms catalogued

See the pathway matrix

0/1

Review templates accepted by an agency

Read the known gaps

Keep going

Where this connects.

The tracker is the map of the current path. The rest of the chart says what it takes to actually operate — and what we're working to change.

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