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An Act Regarding Municipal and Regional Shellfish Management Programs
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6671, sub-§3, ¶A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 494, §1, is further amended to read:
 
A. Within any area ofin the intertidal zone within the municipality, a shellfish conservation ordinance may:
 
(1) Regulate or prohibit the possession of shellfish;
 
(2) Fix the amount of shellfish that may be taken;
 
(3) Provide for protection from shellfish predators;
 
(4) Authorize the municipal officials to open and close flats under specified conditions; and
 
(5) Specify areas of the intertidal zone in which the dragging of mussels may be limited to the degree necessary to support a municipal shellfish conservation program.; and
 
(6) Authorize regional shellfish management programs to undertake any additional powers granted by the commissioner pursuant to subsection 7.
Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §6671, sub-§7, as amended by PL 2001, c. 188, §7, is further amended to read:
 
7. Joint programs; reciprocal privileges.   Municipalities may enter into regional shellfish management agreements with other municipalities and adopt regional shellfish management programs. The agreements, and the programs and ordinances adopted under them, are subject to the same requirements as municipal programs and ordinances. In addition to the powers granted to municipal shellfish management programs, the commissioner may grant regional shellfish management programs other powers. Resident privileges of one municipality in a regional shellfish management agreement may be extended to the residents of other municipalities in the agreement. A regional shellfish management committee comprised of at least one resident from each municipality named in the regional agreement may be established to administer a regional program.
 
SUMMARY
This bill limits the authority of a shellfish conservation ordinance to the intertidal zone within a municipality. It also allows the Commissioner of Marine Resources to grant regional shellfish management programs additional powers beyond those powers granted to municipal shellfish management programs.