CHAPTER 202

S.P. 303 - L.D. 895

An Act To Expand the Authority of Maine's Lobster

Management Policy Councils

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6446, sub-§2, as repealed and replaced by PL 1995, c. 568, §4, is amended to read:

2. Rules for zones. The commissioner may adopt rules for a zone established under subsection 1 that place limits on lobster and crab fishing license holders who fish in that zone regarding the number of lobster traps fished and the time periods allowed for complying with that number, the number of lobster traps allowed on a trawl and the time of day when lobster fishing may occur are proposed pursuant to section 6447, subsection 5 or section 6447, subsection 5-C only when the rules were proposed by the lobster management policy council established for that zone pursuant to section 6447, subsection 1 and the proposed rules were approved in a referendum pursuant to section 6447, subsection 6. The commissioner may accept the rules proposed by a lobster management policy council as reasonable and adopt those rules or reject the council's proposed rules as unreasonable. The rules adopted under this subsection by the commissioner must accurately reflect the intent of the rules proposed by a lobster management policy council but are not required to be a verbatim rendition of the proposed rules.