An Act To Provide for a Limited Sea Cucumber Fishery
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 0602
Committee: Marine Resources
Sponsors: EDER, KAELIN, PERCY
Amends: 12 MRSA §6801-A, 12 MRSA §6813

Legislative Document 
No. 602 
H.P.435 
House of Representatives, February 3,2005 
An Act To Provide for a Limited Sea Cucumber Fishery 
Submitted by the Department of Marine Resources pursuant to loint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Marine Resources suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative EDER of Portland. 
7Y/~ 
frl· 7J?dC~{ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: KAELIN of Winterport, PERCY of Phippsburg. 
Printed "'n recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6801-A is enacted to read: 
§680l-A. 
Sea cucumber drag license 
1. 
License required. 
A person 
may 
not 
engage 
in 
the 
activities authorized under this section without a current sea 
cucumber drag license. 
A sea cucumber drag license must list the 
documentation or registration number of the vessel to be used by 
the licensee when dragging. 
2. 
Licensed activities. 
The holder of a sea cucumber drag 
license may use the vessel named on the holder's license to drag 
for sea cucumbers. 
The license also authorizes the captain and 
crew members aboard the vessel named on the license to drag for: 
and possess, ship, transport and sell sea cucumbers, except that 
the captain and crew members may not drag for sea cucumbers if 
the license holder is not aboard the vessel. 
3. 
Exemptions. 
Notwithstanding 
subsection 
2, 
the 
commissioner may authorize a 
person to fish for or take sea 
cucumbers from a vessel when the person holding a sea cucumber 
drag license that contains the name of that vessel is not on 
board if: 
A. 
The holder of the sea cucumber drag license documents to 
the commissioner that an illness or disability temporarily 
prevents the license holder from fishing for or taking sea 
cucumbers from that vessel and requests in writing to the 
commissioner that the commissioner authorize another person 
to use that vessel to fish for or take sea cucumbers from 
the vessel; or 
B. 
The vessel named on the license of a license holder is 
temporarily 
inoperable 
because 
of 
an 
accident 
or 
a 
mechanical 
failure 
and 
the 
license 
holder 
requests 
in 
writing to the commissioner that the commissioner authorize 
the license holder to use another vessel to fish for or take 
sea cucumbers. 
4. 
Eligibility. 
A sea cucumber drag license may be issued 
only to an individual. 
5. 
Fee. 
The fee for a sea cucumber drag license is $111. 
6. 
Violation. 
A person who commits a violation under this 
section commits a civil violation for which a forfeiture of not 
less than $100 may be adjudged. 
Page l-LR0634(1) 
Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §6813, sub-§3 is enacted to read: 
3. 
Fees. 
The following fees must be assessed and credited 
to 
the 
fund. 
Every 
wholesale 
seafood 
license 
holder 
that 
purchases 
sea 
cucumbers 
shall keep, 
as 
a 
part of 
permanent 
~records, a 
record of all sea cucumbers purchased at point of 
first 
sale. 
Every 
wholesale 
seafood 
license 
holder 
that 
purchases sea cucumbers shall, on or before the last day of each 
month, pay to the commissioner a fee of up to 20¢ for every 100 
pounds reported as purchased. 
The commissioner shall establish 
by rule the amount of the fee and any procedural requirements for 
collection of the fee, including, but not limited to, reporting 
forms and monthly reporting of purchase amounts. 
Timely payment 
of the fee is a condition of renewal of the wholesale seafood 
license 
issued 
under 
section 
6851. 
If it appears 
to 
the 
commissioner from an inspection of records or otherwise that an 
addi tional fee is due or overpayment has been made, additional 
assessments or refunds must be made by the commissioner to the 
wholesale seafood license holder. 
Sec.3. 12 MRS A §6814 is enacted to read: 
§68l4. 
Sea cucumber rules 
The 
commissioner 
may 
adopt 
rules 
under 
chapter 
607, 
subchapter 1 to promote the conservation and propagation of sea 
cucumbers. 
Those rules may include, but are not limited to, the 
establishment of management areas in which the harvest of sea 
cucumbers will be permitted, limits on the number of licenses 
associated with those management areas and annual limits on total 
harvest 
from 
each of 
those 
management 
areas. 
Rules 
adopted 
pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined 
in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
Sec.4. 12 MRSA c. 623, sub-c. 4, art. 3 is enacted to read: 
Article 3 
LIMITATIONS ON SEA CUCUMBER DRAG LICENSES 
§682l. 
Limited entry 
1. 
License eligibility. 
The commissioner may not issue a 
sea cucumber drag license under section 6801 A to any person 
unless 
that 
person 
possessed 
that 
license 
in 
the 
previous 
calendar year or becomes eligible to obtain that license pursuant 
to a limited entry system under subsection 2. 
2. 
Sea cucumhPr drag license limited entry system. 
The 
commissioner may establish br rule a limited entry system under 
which a person who did not hold a sea cucumber drag license under 
section 6801-A in the previous calendar year may become eligible 
to obtain that license. 
The rules for a limited entry system 
must include provisions for the method and administration of the 
system. 
Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine 
technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 
2-A. 
3. 
Exceptions. 
Notwithstanding subsection 1, the following 
persons may be issued a sea cucumber drag license for license 
year 2006: 
A. 
A person who was certified as eligible for and obtained 
a sea cucumber endorsement in 2000; and 
B. 
A person who 
reported landings of at least 100 , 000 
pounds of sea cucumbers during license year 2002 , 
2003 or 
4. 
Protection from depletion. 
The commissioner may adopt 
rules for the sea cucumber drag license limited entry system to 
prohibi t 
new entry in a year when it is necessary to protect or 
conserve the sea cucumber resource from imminent depletion. 
§6822. 
Licenses by area 
If management 
areas are established pursuant to section 
6814, then a person eligible to purchase a license under section 
6821 may purchase that license for only one of the management 
areas. 
A person may not change from the management area in which 
the person harvested sea cucumbers in the previous calendar year 
unless the change is authorized in accordance with section 6823. 
A sea cucumber drag license authorizes the licensed activity only 
in the management area for which it is issued. 
§6823. 
Changing sea cucumber management areas 
This section applies if management areas are established 
pursuant to section 6814. 
1. 
Authorization of changes. 
Beginning in calendar year 
2007, a person eligible to purchase a sea cucumber drag license 
under section 6821 who wishes to change the management area in 
which the person harvests sea cucumbers may not change management 
areas unless the change is authorized by the commissioner in 
accordance with this section. 
2. 
Management area change request on application. 
A person 
eligible to purchase a sea cucumber drag license under section 
6821 who wishes to change the management area in which that 
person was licensed to harvest sea cucumbers in the previous 
calendar year must 
indicate on 
a 
sea 
cucumber 
drag license 
application form a preference to change the management area in 
which the person harvests sea cucumbers. 
The commissioner shall 
stamp each sea cucumber drag license application form with the 
time and date of submission. 
3. 
Conditions 
for 
authorization. 
A reguest 
to 
change 
management 
areas 
is 
authorized 
based 
on 
the 
commissioner's 
assessment of the ability of the management area to sustain 
additional 
fishing effort. 
The 
commissioner 
shall 
authorize 
management 
area 
change 
requests 
in 
chronological 
order 
of 
requests received under this section. 
4. 
Limitation on approving management area change. 
The 
commissioner may not authorize a management area change dur ing 
the period from October 1st to June 30th. 
5. 
Effective date of management area change. 
The effective 
date of a management area change authorized by the commissioner 
is October 1st. 
SUMMARY 
This bill creates a sea cucumber drag license. 
It requires 
the Commissioner of Marine Resources to establish by rule a fee 
of no more than 20e for every 100 pounds to be paid monthly by 
wholesale seafood license holders who 
purchase sea cucumbers. 
The fees will be deposited in the Sea Cucumber Management Fund 
and will 
be 
used 
to 
research 
and 
manage 
the 
sea 
cucumber 
fishery. 
The bill also gives the commissioner authority to adopt 
rules 
to 
promote 
the 
conservation 
and 
propagation 
of 
sea 
cucumbers, including, but not limited to, the establishment of 
management 
areas. 
A protocol 
for 
license holders 
to 
change 
management areas is established. 
This bill sets up a limited 
entry system for sea cucumbers, under which the commissioner may 
issue a sea cucumber drag license to a person only if that person 
possessed a license in the previous calendar year or becomes 
eligible to obtain a sea cucumber drag license through a limited 
entry system developed by rule.