B. A person who is issued a Class I, Class II or, Class III or noncommercial lobster and crab fishing license on appeal pursuant to section 6310, subsection 2, paragraph A, subparagraph (1) or (2) may declare as that person's declared lobster zone the zone in which the person was authorized to fish a majority of that person's lobster traps in the most recent year in which the person held a license.

C. A person who is issued a Class I, Class II or, Class III or noncommercial lobster and crab fishing license pursuant to section 6421, subsection 5, paragraph D may declare as that person's declared lobster zone the zone in which the person was authorized to fish a majority of that person's lobster traps in the most recent year in which the person held a license.

A person who declares a limited-entry zone as that person's declared lobster zone pursuant to this subsection may not be counted for the purposes of the exit ratio or the number of new zone entrants that may be authorized for that zone.

SUMMARY

This bill expands the authority of the Zone E council authority and requires that noncommercial lobster and crab license entry criteria be the same as commercial license entry criteria. The bill also sets the number of noncommercial traps at 10 per vessel and caps the number of noncommercial lobster and crab licenses that can be issued at 2002 license year levels.