An Act To Reevaluate the Frenchboro Area Dragging Exclusion Zone
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0332
Committee: Marine Resources
Sponsors: McDONALD
Amends: 12 MRSA §6954-A

Legislative Document
No. 332
H.P. 236
House of Representatives, February 8, 2021
An Act To Reevaluate the Frenchboro Area Dragging Exclusion 
Zone
Received by the Clerk of the House on February 4, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Marine Resources pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative McDONALD of Stonington.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §6954-A, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 2003, c. 452, 
Pt. F, §37 and affected by Pt. X, §2, is amended by amending the first blocked paragraph 
to read:
For purposes of this section, except as otherwise defined by rules adopted under subsection 
1-A, "the Frenchboro area" means the following area: starting at the easternmost point on 
Red Point, Swan's Island; thence in an easterly direction to the southernmost point of the 
western Sister's Island; thence in a southeasterly direction to the southernmost point of 
Crow Island; thence in a southerly direction to the northernmost point of Harbor Island, 
Frenchboro, Long Island; thence southerly to the state ferry terminal located on the eastern 
side of Lunt's Harbor, Frenchboro, Long Island, and then starting at the westernmost point 
of Gooseberry Point on Frenchboro, Long Island; westerly to the northeast point of John's 
Island; thence northwest to the easternmost point of the largest of the Baker Islands; thence 
northwesterly to the northeastern point of Harbor Island, Swan's Island; thence northerly to 
Quarry Wharf, Minturn, Swan's Island.
Sec. 2.  12 MRSA §6954-A, sub-§1-A, as enacted by PL 1991, c. 784, §10, is 
amended to read:
1-A.  Scalloping permitted by rule.  The commissioner may adopt and amend rules 
that amend the definition of the Frenchboro area if the commissioner determines, after 
evaluation, that the area should be modified to better achieve the purposes of this section.  
The commissioner may also adopt and amend rules permitting the taking of scallops in the 
Frenchboro area, as defined in subsection 1, except that the rules may not permit the use of 
drags more than 30 inches wide and may not permit the use of drag ropes more than 3/8 
inch in diameter.  Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as 
defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 3.  Evaluation of the Frenchboro area.  Within 90 days of the effective date 
of this Act, the Commissioner of Marine Resources shall evaluate the size and boundaries 
of the Frenchboro area, where, pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 12, section 
6954-A, dragging and scalloping are prohibited, to determine whether the area should be 
modified.
SUMMARY
This bill directs the Commissioner of Marine Resources to evaluate the size and 
boundaries of the Frenchboro area, where dragging and scalloping are prohibited, to 
determine whether the area should be modified.  This bill also allows the commissioner to 
modify by rule that Frenchboro area.