Effective April 4, Governor Reynolds signed House File 2281 creating a new animal unit for small fish raised in a confinement feeding operation.
"This is an example of regulations that protect the environment while encouraging entrepreneurship," said Chuck Gipp, DNR director. "Adding a separate category for small fish will allow new start-ups while existing regulations protect our waters."
The bill established the animal unit number for fish weighing less than 25 grams at 0.00006. The animal unit for fish weighing more than 25 grams remains at 0.001.
Animal units are a special equivalency factor used to calculate animal unit capacity (AUC). To determine AUC, multiply the number of animals by the animal unit factor. For example, 8.35 million fish weighing less than 25 grams would have an AUC of 501.