An Act Clarifying Municipalities' Authority to Assign Mooring Permits
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 0648
Committee: Marine Resources
Sponsors: EDER, ASH, SULLIVAN
Amends: 38 MRSA §3, 38 MRSA §7

12lst MAINE LEGISLATURE 
Legislative Document 
No. 648 
H.P.478 
House of Representati ves, February 11, 2003 
An Act Clarifying Municipalities' Authority to Assign Mooring 
Permits 
Reference to the Committee on Marine Resources suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative EDER of Portland. 
/rj~/J1.~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: ASH of Belfast, SULLIVAN of Biddeford. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 38 MRSA §3. as amended by PL 1991, c. 838, §16, is 
further amended to read: 
§3. 
Mooring sites 
In all harbors wherein channel lines have been established 
by the municipal officers, as provided in section 2, and in all 
other coastal and tidal waters, harbors and great ponds where 
mooring rights of individuals are claimed to be 
invaded and 
protection is sought of the harbor master, 
the harbor master 
shall assign and indicate only to the masters or owners of boats 
and vessels and aquaculture lease holders, the location that they 
may occupy for mooring purposes and shall change the location of 
those moorings from time to time when the crowded condition of 
that harbor or great pond, the need to conform to section 7-A or 
other conditions render the change desirable. 
Unless permitted by an ordinance adopted under section 3-A, 
mooring assignments may not be transferred. 
Assignments may not 
be 
rented unless 
the provision for 
rental 
was 
part of 
the 
agreement when the mooring was assigned. 
Assignment of these mooring privileges does not confer any 
right, title or interest in submerged or intertidal lands owned 
by the State. 
To the extent that there is any inconsistency 
between this subchapter and any law wRieR that establishes or 
otherwise provides for a state agency, port authority, board of 
harbor commissioners or 
siFAila~ other authority for any coastal 
waters of the State, that inconsistency sRall must be resolved in 
favor of this subchapter. 
Whenever practicable, the harbor master shall assign mooring 
privileges in those waters where individuals own the shore rights 
to a parcel of land, are masters or owners of a boat or vessel 
and 
are 
complainants, 
and 
shall 
locate 
suitable 
mooring 
privileges 
therefor 
for 
boats 
and 
vessels, 
temporarily 
or 
permanently, 
as the case may be, 
fronting their land, if so 
requested, 
but 
not 
to 
encroach 
upon 
the natural 
channel 
or 
channels established by municipal officers; provided that not 
more than one mooring may be assigned to any shore-front parcel 
of land under this privilege. Notwithstanding section 11, persons 
who, prior to January 1, 1987, owned shore rights of at least 100 
feet of frontage regardless of the size of the lot sRall have 
mooring 
privileges 
assigned 
according 
to 
this 
section. 
The 
limitation of one mooring assigned under this privilege sRall 
does not prevent the owner of a shore-front parcel from receiving 
additional mooring assignments under the allocation system for 
all other residents. 
Page l-LR1643 (1) 
A harbor master may refuse to assign mooring privileges to 
any vessel or boat owner or master or aguaculture lease holder 
who has not paid any fee, 
charge for services, forfeiture or 
penal ty levied pursuant to this subchapter, or whose acti vi ties 
are determined by the harbor master to unreasonably interfere 
with existing uses. 
Sec. 2. 38 MRSA §7. as amended by PL 1997, c. 89, §L is 
further amended to read: 
§1. 
Relation to other laws 
Nothing in this subchapter or in any other state law may be 
construed to be a limitation on the authority of municipalities 
to enact ordinances to regulate the assignment or placement of 
moorings and other activities in their harbors. 
These ordinances 
may include, but are not limited to: 
A process for assigning 
mooring privileges and determining the location of moorings; 
a 
waiting list for the assignment of mooring privileges; 
a 
fee 
schedule; construction standards for moorings; time limits on the 
mooring of vessels; a process for appeals from decisions of the 
harbor master; provisions that recognize that mooring privileges 
in lawful existence on the effective date of an ordinance may be 
preserved or continued after adoption of that ordinance, 
the 
location and use to be determined by the harbor master or other 
appropriate 
local authority; 
and provisions that establish 
a 
harbor commission or committee to administer the ordinance or 
ordinances 
and 
oversee 
the 
duties 
of 
the 
harbor 
master. 
Regulations adopted by the municipal officers under section 2 
remain 
in effect 
unless 
the 
municipality's 
legislative 
body 
enacts an ordinance pertaining to the same matter pursuant to the 
Constitution of Maine, Article VIII, 
Part 2, 
and Title 30-A, 
section 3001. 
SUMMARY 
This bill adds aquaculture to the list of activities that 
require 
mooring 
permits 
from 
municipal 
harbor 
masters 
and 
clarifies that municipalities with harbor masters may exercise 
exclusive authority to assign mooring permits within waters under 
their jurisdiction.