CHAPTER 169

S.P. 459 - L.D. 1389

An Act To Create a Marine Harvesting Demonstration License

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

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6810-A is enacted to read:

§6810-A.__Marine harvesting demonstration license

1.__License required.__Notwithstanding section 6074, an individual may not engage in an activity authorized under this section without a valid marine harvesting demonstration license.

2.__Licensed activities.__An individual who holds a marine harvesting demonstration license may engage in limited fishing activities for the purpose of providing an educational demonstration of marine harvesting techniques or of the marine ecology of the Gulf of Maine as part of a commercial operation. An individual may not handle a lobster trap, warp or buoy used for the purposes of this section unless that individual meets the requirements of subsection 7.

Subject to the requirements of subsection 3, an individual who holds a Class I, Class II or Class III lobster and crab fishing license may assist a person who holds a marine harvesting demonstration license on that person's boat in the demonstration of lobster and crab fishing without obtaining a marine harvesting demonstration license.