Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6448, sub-§8, ¶D is enacted to read:

D.__A person who successfully completes the apprentice program established pursuant to section 6422 may declare a limited-entry zone as that person's declared lobster zone.

SUMMARY

Current law limits the number of new zone entrants to a limited-entry lobster fishing zone to a number equal to an exit ratio established by rule by the Commissioner of Marine Resources.

This bill provides an exemption from that law to persons who have completed the apprentice program for entry into the lobster fishery who declare a limited-entry zone as their declared lobster zone. Persons who are admitted under this exemption are not counted for the purposes of the exit ratio or number of new zone entrants that are authorized for that zone.