Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6803, sub-§3, as amended by PL 1991, c. 591, Pt. T, §13, is further amended to read:

3. Fees. The fee schedule for seaweed permits is as follows:

A. Ten One hundred dollars for a resident seaweed permit;

B. Eighty-four One hundred and fifty dollars for a nonresident seaweed permit; and

C. Three Ten dollars for a supplemental seaweed permit.

Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §6803, sub-§4 is enacted to read:

4.__Disposition of fees.__All fees collected under this section accrue to the Seaweed Management Fund established in section 6804.

Sec. 3. 12 MRSA §§6804 and 6805 are enacted to read:

§6804.__Seaweed Management Fund

1.__Fund established.__The Seaweed Management Fund, referred to in this section as the "fund," is established as a dedicated, nonlapsing fund.

2.__Permissible uses.__The commissioner may use the fund in accordance with a plan required under subsection 3 to research and manage the State's seaweed resources and to enforce the laws and rules related to seaweed.

3.__Plan required.__Beginning in calendar year 2000, the commissioner shall by May 1st of each year present a plan for expenditures from the fund for the next fiscal year to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over marine resource matters.__When developing the plan, the commissioner shall consult with harvesters and seaweed dealers.

§6805.__Seaweed harvesting rules

The commissioner may adopt rules regulating the harvest of seaweed, including, but not limited to, the total number of licenses that may be issued, the designation of a harvesting season or seasons, the quantity of the resource that may be harvested in a season, areas that may be open or closed to harvest and gear and techniques that may be used in harvesting.