---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO AQUACULTURE."
description: "As a result of the passage of the in Inland Bays Aquaculture Act, numerous ongoing concerns have been raised during subsequent public meetings and a public hearing. As a result of those meetings, the Secretary's Order No. 2016-W-0049 reduced the number and location of leasable sites, and eliminated oyster aquaculture in the Little Assawoman Bay. This Act seeks to ensure the following: sites eliminated in the Secretary's Order cannot be considered for leasing for aquaculture; the elimination of poles as a form of markings of any and all leased sites within the Little Assawoman Bay; and limiting all aquaculture leased sites in the Little Assawoman Bay to hard clams only."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "SB 77"
citation: "Delaware SB 77 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gerald W. Hocker", "Peter C. Schwartzkopf", "Ronald E. Gray"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 8
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-05-03"
last_action: "2017-08-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/70646821-1b62-426e-a1a8-99b2c83fced2"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25714"
source_hash: "2e43077373dc89d3ff135e4291b04c09030902d2d0520028b2e140d94d9caed2"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware SB 77 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO AQUACULTURE.

As a result of the passage of the in Inland Bays Aquaculture Act, numerous ongoing concerns have been raised during subsequent public meetings and a public hearing. As a result of those meetings, the Secretary's Order No. 2016-W-0049 reduced the number and location of leasable sites, and eliminated oyster aquaculture in the Little Assawoman Bay. This Act seeks to ensure the following: sites eliminated in the Secretary's Order cannot be considered for leasing for aquaculture; the elimination of poles as a form of markings of any and all leased sites within the Little Assawoman Bay; and limiting all aquaculture leased sites in the Little Assawoman Bay to hard clams only.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=25714&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SB77)

## Votes

- SM — **18–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **18–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **41–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gerald W. Hocker — primary (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
- Ronald E. Gray — primary (person)
- Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
- David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald L. Brady — cosponsor (person)
- Harvey R. Kenton — cosponsor (person)
- Richard G. Collins — cosponsor (person)
- Stephen Smyk — cosponsor (person)
- Trey Charles Paradee — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-05-03** Introduced and Assigned to Environmental, Natural Resources & Energy Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-17** Reported Out of Committee (Environmental, Natural Resources & Energy) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-18** Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-05-18** Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-06-01** Assigned to Natural Resources Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-14** Reported Out of Committee (Natural Resources) in House with 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2017-06-30** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2017-08-30** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/70646821-1b62-426e-a1a8-99b2c83fced2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).