Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §7035, sub-§19 is enacted to read:

19.__Management of brook trout and landlocked salmon.__ Notwithstanding any other provision of chapters 701 to 721, any rule that includes a proposal to establish or amend the time, place or manner in which a person may fish for brook trout or landlocked salmon on inland waters is a major substantive rule as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter II-A.__At the time such a rule is provisionally adopted, the department must include in its submission to the Legislature under Title 5, section 8072, subsection 2 documentation of at least 2 years of prior research by a qualified fisheries biologist on each body of water for which a change is proposed.__That research must demonstrate the need for the proposed change and must include a plan for continuing that research for 5 additional years if the proposed rule is finally adopted.

SUMMARY

This bill makes any rule that affects the management of brook trout or landlocked salmon a major substantive rule under the Maine Administrative Procedure Act. The bill also requires the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to include in its submission to the Legislature documentation on at least 2 years of prior research by qualified fisheries biologists demonstrating the need for the proposed change.