SECTION 1. Section 40 of Chapter 131 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting in line 7 after the word “enlarging,” the following:

a resource area that is primarily used in the growing of aquatic organisms under controlled conditions and used to protect the physical passage of migrating anadromous and catadromous fish with the minimum work necessary to remove a specific and identifiable impediment to fish passage including the removal of downed trees that impede fish passage, removal of built up sediment and sandbars that impede fish passage, removal of excessive vegetation blocking fish passage, and the maintenance of fish ladders and must only be carried out by the division of marine fisheries, appointed herring wardens or under the auspices of authorized public entities and must not impact other protected interests of this section,

SECTION 2. Section 40 of Chapter 131 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “riverfront area.” in line 227 the following paragraph:

The term “Resource area” as used in this section shall mean any bank, riverfront area, fresh water wetland, coastal wetland, beach, dune, flat, marsh, meadow or swamp bordering on the ocean or on any estuary, creek, river, stream, pond, or lake, or any land under said waters or any land subject to tidal action, coastal storm flowage, or flooding.