Update from the Marine Resources Committee
While the second session of the 123rd Legislature was relatively short, I am proud of all the work the Marine Resources Committee completed on behalf of Maine’s fisheries, working waterfronts and the people who are sustained by them. I am serving my sixth year on the Marine Resources Committee and my fourth as the House chair of the committee.
We worked on many issues of importance to our local fishermen and women. We worked on regulations related to scallops, clams and alewives to name just a few. Many of these issues were contentious, and my fellow committee members and I worked very hard to balance the needs of all stakeholders.
Here are some examples of bills that passed the House and Senate and have been or will soon be signed by Gov. John Baldacci.
LD 1957, “An Act to Restore Diadromous Fish in the St. Croix River”
The committee worked with lobstermen and women, local guides and representatives of the Passamaquoddy Tribe to allow alewives access above the Woodland Dam on the St. Croix River. The Grand Falls Dam will remain blocked to the passage of alewives. Many salt water fishermen and women wanted to see the alewife run restored to the St. Croix River in order to sustain this important baitfish fishery, which appears to be in a steep decline. However, local fresh water guides and members of the Passamaquoddy tribe claimed that reintroducing alewives further up the river would negatively impact the non-native bass fishery and native landlocked salmon.
LD 2006, “An Act to Give Municipalities Control of Mussels Located in Intertidal Zones”
This bill was amended to allow a municipality to specify areas of the intertidal zone in which the dragging of mussels may be limited to the degree necessary to support the municipality's shellfish conservation program. This bill was brought to the committee to assure that mussel draggers could still make a living, but not at the expense of the work of the local shellfish conservation programs and other shellfish harvesters. It authorizes the Commissioner of Marine Resources, with the advice of the affected municipality, to issue a permit to a person holding a mussel boat license to harvest mussels from an area designated by the municipality as a limited mussel dragging area. It provides that the commissioner shall limit the number of these permits to achieve the goals of a municipality's shellfish conservation program, and may place other restrictions on the permit necessary for consistency with the conservation program.
My committee considered several bills to help sustain the working men and women who harvest clams up and down the coast. Balancing the limited resources available to the Department of Marine Resources with the very real and significant needs of the clammers was very complex and difficult, but I believe the committee, the advocates for the clammers, and the department worked out some effective policy to deal with these issues. The following three bills were brought to us by the Maine Clammers Association.
LD 2038, "An Act to Facilitate the Timely Reopening of Closed Flats"
This bill was amended to establish the Shellfish Advisory Council to advise the Commissioner of Marine Resources and the Marine Resources committee on matters of interest to Maine's shellfish industry, including how best to maintain the quality of coastal waters and to expedite the opening of closed shellfish flats.
It directs the department – working with the federal Food and Drug Administration, interested parties and the Shellfish Advisory Council – to implement the recommendations made pursuant to the Water Quality Peer Review.
It directs the Department of Marine Resources to undertake within 18 months two or more projects in which a municipality contracts with a private laboratory certified by the department to conduct water quality testing.
It also requires the department and members of the advisory council to report back to the committee on their work during the next legislative session.
LD 2039, “Resolve, To Protect Public Health and Promote a Healthy Soft-Shell Clam Industry”
This bill directs the Commissioner of Marine Resources to adopt the rules necessary to allow the holder of a commercial shellfish license to safely sell clams to wholesale seafood dealers at the dock or landing as well as the permanent facilities currently licensed.
LD 2129, “An Act to Make Clam Flat Status Notification Cost-effective and Economically Beneficial to the Shellfish Industry”
This bill makes the shellfish sanitation hotline and the Department of Marine Resources web site the means by which the department notifies shellfish harvesters of the opening and closing of clam flats. It also directs the department to no longer use newspaper publication as the method of notification, a method not favored by clammers. The savings generated by this total $25,000 and are to be used for volunteer training and overtime for water quality staff.
We also considered a couple bills related to scallop harvesting. One was specific to the scallop fishery in Cobscook Bay while the bill below is relevant to the entire Gulf of Maine scallop fishery.
LD 2071, “An Act to Amend Maine's Scallop Laws”
This bill was amended to, among other things, create a requirement that a person hold a scallop dragging license and be present on the boat named on the license when the boat is engaged in dragging for scallops. This bill also restricts the issuance of scallop licenses in 2009 and thereafter to persons who had a scallop license at any point from 2005 through May 1, 2008. The Commissioner of Marine Resources is required to establish a limited entry system for persons who did not possess a scallop license in the prior calendar year.
It also directs the Commissioner of Marine Resources to adopt rules to establish a minimum ring size of no less than four inches and expand the uses of the Scallop Research Fund to include the implementation of scallop management measures.
It reduces by half the daily quantity of scallops a person with a noncommercial scallop license can harvest or possess to one bushel of shell scallops or two quarts of shucked scallops and provides for a $40 surcharge for noncommercial scallop licenses. It also increases the fines for any violation of a scallop law and allows for the suspension of a person’s scallop fishing license if that person is convicted of three or more violations of scallop fishing laws.
Finally it directs the Scallop Advisory Council and the department to develop a comprehensive strategic plan that will rebuild Maine's scallop resource and create a sustainable scallop fishery. The Council shall report the plan – including findings, recommendations and necessary implementing legislation – to the committee next session.
LD 2137, “An Act to Clarify the Licensing Requirements for Aquaculturists and Allow For the Appropriate Handling of Bycatch from Aquaculture Lease Sites”
This bill provides that fish that cohabitated with farmed fish in an area leased for aquaculture (for example, pollock present in a salmon pen) must be harvested and returned for appropriate disposal by the lease holder. It also provides that the holder of an aquaculture lease is not required to hold a separate license for the removal, possession, transport or sale of certain cultured organisms from the area leased for aquaculture or licensed gear. It establishes that commercial shellfish license holders, mussel hand-raking license holders and mussel boat license holders may use these licenses to remove, possess, transport and sell cultured shellfish they have removed from an area they lease for aquaculture.
These are not all the bills we worked on and passed this year, nor are the descriptions of these bills comprehensive. Please contact me to learn more about the work of the Marine Resources Committee this session and to let me know what you think still needs to be done next year. I hope to return to serve as House chair of the committee for two more years.
As always, if you have questions or comments please call me at 389-2133 or e-mail RepLeila.Percy@legislature.maine.gov.
State Rep. Leila Jane Percy, D-Phippsburg, represents the towns of Harpswell, Phippsburg and part of West Bath. She is serving her third term in the Maine House of Representatives.