A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to address the needs of oyster restoration and mariculture in North Carolina through a coordinated shellfish hatchery program involving researchers, industry, and state agencies.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Marine Fisheries, the sum of eight million two hundred forty‑three thousand six hundred fifty‑eight dollars ($8,243,658) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to address the needs of oyster restoration and mariculture in North Carolina through a coordinated shellfish hatchery program involving researchers, industry, and State agencies.  Of these funds, the sum of seven million six hundred eighty‑two thousand one hundred seven dollars ($7,682,107) shall be used for capital, and the remainder shall be used for operating expenses.
SECTION 1.(b)  These funds shall be used to construct and operate:
(1)	A production scale shellfish hatchery under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and 
(2)	A research scale shellfish hatchery under the University of North Carolina System at the Center for Marine Science at UNC Wilmington.
These shellfish hatcheries shall be based on the plan previously developed by the North Carolina Oyster Hatchery Program under the North Carolina Aquariums.
SECTION 2.  Recurring funds in the amount of six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000) appropriated to the Division of North Carolina Aquariums for oyster hatcheries are hereby transferred to the Division of Marine Fisheries.  These funds shall be used for the purchase of larvae and for other services.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2008.