H.P. 395 - L.D. 540
An Act to Correct Certain Errors and Inconsistencies in Marine Resources Laws
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 12 MRSA �6431-A, sub-��1 and 2, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 468, �5, are amended to read:
1. Limit. Except as provided in subsection 2, it is unlawful for the holder of a Class I, Class II or Class III license issued under section 6421 to have submerge more than 1,200 traps submerged in the coastal waters of the State.
2. Trap limit exception. The holder of a Class I, Class II or Class III license issued under section 6421 who documents to the commissioner that the license holder had submerged an average of more than 1,200 traps submerged in the coastal waters of the State in calendar year 1994 and calendar year 1995 has until March 1, 2003 to reduce that average number of traps to 1,200 or less. At a minimum, the license holder must divide the average number of submerged traps in excess of 1,200 by the number 7 and, starting in calendar year 1996, annually reduce the number of traps by the resulting number.
Sec. 2. 12 MRSA �6431-D, sub-�1, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 468, �5, is amended to read:
1. Boat limit. Except as provided in subsection 2, it is unlawful to tend more than 1,200 traps from a boat in the coastal waters of the State.
Sec. 3. 12 MRSA �6431-D, sub-�2, as amended by PL 1995, c. 568, �3, is further amended to read:
2. Exception. Two or more holders of Class I, Class II or Class III licenses issued under section 6421 who harvest lobsters from the same boat may collectively tend more than 1,200 traps from that boat if the license holders:
A. Document to the commissioner the average number of traps the license holders fished from the boat in the coastal waters of the State in calendar year 1994 and calendar year 1995 and that average number exceeds 1,200.
(1) When license holders qualify under this paragraph, the trap limit for the boat in calendar year 1996 is the average number of traps the license holders fished from the boat in the coastal waters of the State in calendar year 1994 and calendar year 1995. The number of traps fished from the boat must be reduced to 1,200 or less by March 1, 2003. The commissioner may determine by rule a method for proportionally reducing the number of traps fished from a boat; or
B. Document to the commissioner that the license holders fished an average of more than 1,200 traps from a boat in the coastal waters of the State in calendar year 1994 and calendar year 1995 and are family members. For the purposes of this paragraph, being "family members" means that one license holder on the boat must be related to each of the license holders on the boat as either a spouse, sibling, parent by blood, parent by adoption, child by blood, child by adoption, stepchild, stepparent, grandchild or grandparent.
(1) When license holders qualify under this paragraph, the trap limit for the boat is the product of 1,200 multiplied by the number of license holders who are family members documented under this paragraph who continue to harvest lobsters from the boat in calendar year 1996 and consecutive calendar years thereafter. A license holder who is a family member documented under this paragraph and who does not harvest lobsters from the boat in calendar year 1996 or any subsequent calendar year may harvest lobsters from the boat as long as the total number of traps fished from the boat does not exceed 1,200.
Sec. 4. 12 MRSA �6451, sub-�1, as amended by PL 1989, c. 455, �3, is further amended to read:
1. Allocation of license fees. Ten dollars of each $53 $93 fee, $20 of each $186 fee, $30 of each $159 $279 fee and $5 of each $26 $46 fee for each lobster and crab fishing license shall must be allocated to the Lobster Fund, which shall must be used for the purposes of lobster biology research, of propagation of lobsters by liberating seed lobsters and female lobsters in Maine coastal waters and of establishing and supporting lobster hatcheries.
Sec. 5. 12 MRSA �6501, sub-�6, as amended by PL 1995, c. 536, Pt. A, �6, is further amended to read:
6. Definition. For the purposes of this chapter, "fish" means all marine finfish, squid and shrimp or other marine animals, except lobsters, crabs, sea urchins, shellfish, scallops, marine worms, elvers or eels.
Sec. 6. 12 MRSA �6535, sub-��1 and 2, as amended by PL 1995, c. 530, �1, are further amended to read:
1. License required. It is unlawful for a person to operate a boat as a platform for the harvesting of sea urchins and scallops by hand, to act as a diving tender on a boat engaged as a platform for the harvesting of sea urchins and scallops by hand or to possess, strip ship, transport or sell scallops or sea urchins unless that person is licensed under this section, section 6701 or section 6748.
2. Licensed activity. A person licensed under this section may tend divers who harvest sea urchins and scallops by hand and operate a boat as a platform for the harvesting of sea urchins and scallops by hand and may possess, ship, transport and sell sea urchins and scallops harvested by licensed harvesters the tender has tended. A sea urchin and scallop diving tender license does not authorize the holder to harvest sea urchins and scallops.
Sec. 7. 12 MRSA �6536, sub-�2, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 530, �2, is amended to read:
2. Licensed activity. A person licensed under this section may tend divers who harvest scallops by hand and operate a boat as a platform for the harvesting of scallops by hand and may possess, ship, transport and sell scallops harvested by licensed harvesters the tender has tended. A scallop diving tender license does not authorize the holder to harvest scallops.
Sec. 8. 12 MRSA �6851, as amended by PL 1993, c. 740, ��4 and 5, is further amended by repealing and replacing the headnote to read:
�6851. Wholesale seafood license; wholesale seafood license with lobster permit; wholesale seafood license with urchin permit
Sec. 9. 12 MRSA �6851, sub-�2, �A, as amended by PL 1991, c. 523, �3, is further amended to read:
A. Within or beyond the state limits, buy, sell, process, ship or transport any marine species or their parts, except lobsters and sea urchins;
Effective June 26, 1997, unless otherwise indicated.
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