An Act To Abolish Municipal Shellfish Ordinances
Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6038, sub-§1, ¶F, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 606, Pt. A, §2, is amended to read:
Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §6072, sub-§3, as amended by PL 1999, c. 267, §1, is repealed.
Sec. 3. 12 MRSA §6072-A, sub-§11, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 231, §6, is repealed.
Sec. 4. 12 MRSA §6072-C, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2009, c. 229, §6, is further amended to read:
Sec. 5. 12 MRSA §6302-A, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2013, c. 254, §1, is further amended to read:
Sec. 6. 12 MRSA §6302-A, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2013, c. 254, §2, is further amended to read:
For purposes of this subsection, "sustenance use" means all noncommercial consumption or noncommercial use by any person within Passamaquoddy Indian territory, as defined in Title 30, section 6205, subsection 1, Penobscot Indian territory, as defined in Title 30, section 6205, subsection 2, Aroostook Band Trust Land, as defined in Title 30, section 7202, subsection 2, or Houlton Band Trust Land, as defined in Title 30, section 6203, subsection 2-A, or at any location within the State by a tribal member, by a tribal member's immediate family or within a tribal member's household. The term "sustenance use" does not include the sale of marine organisms.
A member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Penobscot Nation, Aroostook Band of Micmacs or Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians who takes a marine organism under a license or permit issued pursuant to this subsection must comply with all laws and rules applicable to a person who holds a state license or permit that authorizes the taking of that organism, except that a state law or rule that sets a season for the harvesting of a marine organism does not apply to a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Penobscot Nation, Aroostook Band of Micmacs or Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians who takes a marine organism for sustenance use or for noncommercial use in a tribal ceremony. A member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Penobscot Nation, Aroostook Band of Micmacs or Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians issued a license or permit under this subsection is exempt from paying elver gear fees under section 6505-B or trap tag fees under section 6431-B and is not required to hold a state shellfish license issued under section 6601 to obtain a municipal shellfish license pursuant to section 6671. A member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Penobscot Nation, Aroostook Band of Micmacs or Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians who fishes for or takes lobster under a license or permit issued pursuant to this subsection must comply with the closed periods under section 6440.
Sec. 7. 12 MRSA §6601, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2011, c. 598, §26, is further amended to read:
Sec. 8. 12 MRSA §6621, sub-§3, ¶C, as amended by PL 1995, c. 323, §1, is repealed.
Sec. 9. 12 MRSA c. 623, sub-c. 1, art. 4, as amended, is repealed.
Sec. 10. 12 MRSA c. 623, sub-c. 1, art. 4-A is enacted to read:
ARTICLE 4-A
MUNICIPAL SHELLFISH MANAGEMENT
§ 6677. Municipal shellfish ordinances
A municipality may not adopt or enforce an ordinance that regulates the taking or possession of shellfish, provides protection from shellfish predators or authorizes municipal officials to open and close flats.
§ 6678. Shellfish reseeding program
The department shall carry out a program of shellfish reseeding. The program must include such activities as the transplanting of soft-shelled clams from areas of large concentrations to potentially productive areas and relaying shellfish otherwise inhibited from attaining optimum market size. The department may close areas to protect reseeded flats.
Sec. 11. 12 MRSA §6746, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2011, c. 598, §35, is further amended to read:
Sec. 12. 12 MRSA §6856, sub-§3-D, as amended by PL 2015, c. 68, §11, is repealed.
Sec. 13. 25 MRSA §2801-B, sub-§1, ¶F, as repealed and replaced by PL 2001, c. 710, §11 and affected by §12, is repealed.
Sec. 14. 25 MRSA §2804-I, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 682, §5, is amended to read:
§ 2804-I. Law enforcement training for harbor masters
Harbor masters and municipal shellfish conservation wardens must successfully complete the preservice law enforcement training requirements in section 2804-B and the in-service law enforcement training requirements in section 2804-E in order to have the power to make arrests or to carry a firearm. Harbor masters and municipal shellfish conservation wardens are exempt from section 2804-C.
Sec. 15. 38 MRSA §410-I, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 213, Pt. FFFF, §4, is amended to read:
The agencies shall prepare a draft work plan by February 1st of each year and make it available for review at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Shellfish Advisory Council, set out under Title 12, section 6038.
The agencies shall begin implementing the work plan by March 1st annually.
summary
This bill eliminates the authority of a municipality to adopt a shellfish conservation program and ordinance and prohibits a municipality from adopting or enforcing an ordinance that regulates shellfish, provides protection from shellfish predators or authorizes municipal officials to open and close flats.