Current Issues
Issues and Concerns Being Addressed by MSA
MSA is monitoring legislative action and providing input to the Marine Resources Committee.
Legislative Issues
- Legislative update June 1,2009
- There were fifteen bills introduced in the Legislature for the current session that may have an effect on the shellfish industry. They have all been heard in committee and some have been passed by the full legislature. Some died in committee. Below is an update of current status of this legislation.
- LD 32 An Act To Clarify the Disposition of Fines from Maine's Soft-shelled Clam Laws. PASSED AND SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR
- SUMMARY
- This bill requires that a fine collected for a violation of soft-shelled clam laws be paid to the municipality in which the violation occurred.
- LD 82 An Act To Create a Penalty for Harvesting Scallops in a Conservation Area
- PASSED AND SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR
- SUMMARY
- This bill creates penalties for individuals who violate the rules creating scallop conservation areas. For the first offense, a mandatory $1,000 fine is imposed and all scallops on board may be seized. For a second or subsequent offense, a mandatory $1,000 fine is imposed, all scallops on board may be seized and a mandatory one-year license suspension is imposed.
- LD 151 An Act To Amend the Alewife Fishing Laws
- PASSED AND SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR
- SUMMARY
- This bill removes a reference to January 1, 1974 so that municipal rights that were created at any point in time are subject to lapse after 3 consecutive years if they are not exercised. It extends the prohibition on taking alewives, which is currently from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday, to from 6 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Sunday. The bill clarifies that the Commissioner of Marine Resources may lease rights in any municipality where the municipality does not have those rights, not just those where municipal rights have existed in the past. Finally, it expands the uses of the Migratory Fish Fund to include management measures necessary to maintain or enhance alewife populations or populations of other migratory fish.
- LD REPORTED OUT OUGHT TO PASS AS AMENDED-AWAITING FINAL ACTION
- 278 An Act To Bring Equity to the Sea Urchin License Fees
- SUMMARY
- Under current law, the holder of a sea urchin fishing license pays the same license fee to fish for sea urchins in either Zone 1 or Zone 2 despite a significant difference between the zones in the number of days open to sea urchin fishing. This bill restructures the current annual fee for sea urchin fishing licenses to a fee based on the number of days available for the license holder to fish for sea urchins.
- LD 294 An Act To Require the Department of Marine Resources To Enforce Conditions in an Aquaculture Lease. DEAD
- SUMMARY
- This bill directs the Department of Marine Resources to enforce aquaculture lease conditions pursuant to its authority under law.
- LD 345 An Act To Regulate the Rockweed Harvest in Cobscook Bay
- REPORTED OUT OUGHT TO PASS AS AMENDED-AWAITING FINAL ACTION
- SUMMARY
- This amendment replaces the bill, changes the title and adds an emergency preamble and emergency clause. The amendment:
- 1. Creates a seaweed buyer license for a person who purchases more than 10 wet tons annually directly from seaweed harvesters who hold permits and allows the license holder to buy, possess, ship, transport and sell seaweed. The fee for the license is $200 for a resident and $500 for a nonresident. Fees collected accrue to the Seaweed Management Fund;
- 2. Creates a seaweed buyer's surcharge and directs the Commissioner of Marine Resources to establish the surcharge by rule, but it may not exceed $5 per wet ton;
- 3. Creates the Cobscook Bay Rockweed Management Area and requires the Commissioner of Marine Resources to identify areas within the Cobscook Bay Rockweed Management Area that are closed to the commercial harvest of rockweed including, but not limited, to areas around public and private conservation areas, state parks and federally owned lands and lobster nursery areas;
- 4. Directs the Commissioner of Marine Resources to identify and close to the commercial harvest of rockweed up to 30 acres within Cobscook Bay for the purpose of research;
- 5. Requires the Commissioner of Marine Resources to divide the Cobscook Bay Rockweed Management Area into at least 14 harvest management sectors;
- 6. Requires commercial harvesters to submit an annual harvest plan to harvest rockweed within the Cobscook Bay Rockweed Management Area;
- 7. Provides that the total biomass that may be removed from a harvest management sector within the Cobscook Bay Management Area may not exceed 17% of the harvestable biomass that is eligible to be harvested annually. The amendment provides that a report of the total biomass removed must be submitted by the harvestor to the commissioner, and that after January 1, 2010 the harvester's report must be verified by a 3rd party;
- 8. Requires a person who harvests rockweed to make a reasonable effort to remove marine organisms harvested with the rockweed from the harvested seaweed and return those marine organisms alive back into Cobscook Bay as soon as practicable;
- 9. Makes violations of prohibitions related to the Cobscook Bay Management Area a Class E crime for which a fine of not less than $1,000 must be adjudged and provides that each day a violation occurs it constitutes a separate violation; and
- 10. Directs the commissioner to report to the Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources by January 15, 2010 recommendations for a seaweed research plan for Cobscook Bay and on the 2009 seaweed harvest in Cobscook Bay. It gives that committee the authority to submit legislation to the Second Regular Session of the 124th Legislature regarding the report.
- LD 378 An Act To Prohibit Dragging for Bait Fish in Certain Territorial Waters
- PASSED AND SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR
- SUMMARY
- This bill prohibits using a drag to catch bait fish within the first 2 miles of territorial waters, and requires the Department of Marine Resources to adopt rules to implement this prohibition.
- LD 447 An Act To Allow the Direct Sale of Shellfish to Retailers
- SUMMARY
- PASSED AS AMENDED AND SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR
- Current law does not allow the holder of a retail seafood license to buy shellstock directly from the commercial shellfish license holder that harvests the shellfish but instead must buy shellstock from a wholesale seafood license holder that purchases shellstock from the harvester.
- This bill allows a retail seafood license holder to purchase shellstock directly from the harvester.
- LD836 An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Scallop Season
- DEAD
- LD852 An Act To Clarify the Public Ownership of Marine Organisms within the Intertidal Zone
- DEAD
- LD928 An Act To Permit the Landing of Dragged Crabs as Bycatch
- PASSED AND SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR
- SUMMARY
- This bill allows a person who is issued a commercial fishing license under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 12, section 6501 to take, possess and sell crabs that have been taken as bycatch while using an otter trawl within the exclusive economic zone as shown on the most recently published Federal Government nautical chart.
- LD1211 An Act To Amend the Marine Resources Suspension Laws
- PASSED AND SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR
- SUMMARY
- This bill amends the laws governing the notice requirements for a suspension or revocation of a marine resources license. It amends the laws governing procedures for a hearing to appeal a suspension. It changes the reference to a violation of the laws against molesting lobster gear to refer to an adjudication rather than a conviction, since it is now a civil offense. It clarifies that an individual who has had the right to obtain a license suspended is subject to the same prohibitions as an individual who has had a license suspended.
- LD1270 Resolve, To Realign Maine's Natural Resource Agencies
- REPORTED OUT NOT OUGHT TO PASS AS AMENDED-AWAITING FINAL ACTION
- SUMMARY
- This resolve directs the commissioners of the Department of Conservation, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources, the Department of Marine Resources and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to reconfigure their departments.
- The bill also requires the Department of Conservation, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources, the Department of Marine Resources and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to come up with a plan to reorganize the 4 departments. The bill requires the departments to report to the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, the Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources and the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife by December 1, 2009 outlining the progress on the reorganization and to submit proposed legislation to the Second Regular Session of the 124th Legislature by March 1, 2010.
- LD1331 An Act Regarding Saltwater Recreational Fishing
- REPORTED OUT OUGHT NOT TO PASS-AWAITING FINAL ACTION
- SUMMARY
- This bill establishes a saltwater recreational fishing license, dedicates the fees from licensing to the Marine Recreation Fishing Conservation and Management Fund and gives the Commissioner of Marine Resources authority to make expenditures from the fund for purposes such as fisheries management research and education and outreach. The bill also removes the exemptions from the commercial license requirements for certain methods of fishing for personal use.
- The bill also establishes the Marine Recreational Fisheries and Habitat Advisory Council. It repeals the Marine Recreational Fishing Advisory Council and the Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat Advisory Council. The bill also corrects cross-references due to the repealing of the 2 councils.
- LD1399 An Act Concerning Water Quality in Watersheds-Natural Resources Comm
- DEAD
- The amendment establishes resident and nonresident recreational shellfish licenses with associated fees and provides for distribution of the fees.
- The amendment changes the name of the Clean Shores Fund to the Water Quality and Infrastructure Improvement Fund and provides that license fees will be credited to the fund. The amendment clarifies the purposes for which the fund may be used and how money in the fund must be distributed.
- The amendment provides that the Department of Marine Resources must solicit priorities for monitoring and classification of shellfish growing areas from the Shellfish Advisory Council.
- The amendment clarifies that private gifts or bequests to the fund may be directed or advised.
- The amendment adds a one-time reporting requirement and an appropriations and allocations section.
- The amendment provides that the Department of Environmental Protection may establish procedures and criteria for the grant application process, eligibility for grants and the award and use of grants from the fund.
- LD1432 An Act To Create a Saltwater Recreational Fishing Registry
- REPORTED OUT OUGHT TO PASS AS AMENDED-AWAITING FINAL ACTION
- SUMMARY
- This bill creates the saltwater recreational fishing registry to register persons engaged in saltwater recreational fishing to be administered by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife through the department's existing program to issue fishing licenses. The bill directs the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to negotiate a memorandum of agreement with the United States Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to exempt the State from a federal registry if the State submits data from the saltwater recreational fishing registry created by this bill. This bill deappropriates $12,000 from the Department of Marine Resources recreational fishing program to fund the saltwater recreational fishing registry.