An Act to Allow Holders of Elver Fishing Licenses to Fish on Behalf of Other Elver Fishing License Holders
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 0920
Committee: Marine Resources
Sponsors: RENY
Amends: 12 MRSA §6505-A

Legislative Document
No. 920
S.P. 391
In Senate, March 2, 2023
An Act to Allow Holders of Elver Fishing Licenses to Fish on Behalf 
of Other Elver Fishing License Holders
Reference to the Committee on Marine Resources suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator RENY of Lincoln.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  12 MRSA §6505-A, sub-§1-G is enacted to read:
1-G.  Fishing on behalf of another license holder.  Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this section to the contrary, a holder of an elver fishing license may allow on 
that license holder's behalf another holder of an elver fishing license to perform the licensed 
activities under this section. The license holder who is fishing must be in possession of the 
other license holder's elver fishing license and elver transaction card.
Sec. 2.  12 MRSA §6505-A, sub-§3-A, as amended by PL 2015, c. 131, §1, is 
further amended to read:
3-A.  Elver fishing quotas.  The commissioner may adopt rules to establish, implement 
and administer an elver individual fishing quota system in order to ensure that the elver 
fishery annual landings do not exceed the overall annual quota established by the Atlantic 
States Marine Fisheries Commission. Except as provided in subsection 3-B and section 
6575‑L, a person issued a license under this section or section 6302‑A, subsection 3, 
paragraph E, E‑1, F or G may not take, possess or sell elvers in excess of the weight quota 
allocated to that person under the quota system. The rules must:
A.  Establish an overall annual quota for the State;
B.  Establish the amount of the overall annual quota under paragraph A that is allocated 
to persons licensed under this section and specify a formula to establish individual 
quotas for persons licensed under this section.  The formula may take into account the 
amount of elvers a person licensed under this section lawfully harvested in previous 
seasons based on final harvesting reports.  The rules must specify the date by which 
harvester reports are considered final for the purpose of determining individual quotas; 
and
C.  Provide, in accordance with section 6302‑B, that 21.9% of the overall annual quota 
under paragraph A is allocated to the federally recognized Indian tribes in the State and 
establish the amount of that portion of the overall annual quota allocated to the 
Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Penobscot Nation, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians 
and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs.
If persons issued licenses under this section collectively exceed the overall annual quota 
allocated to those persons pursuant to paragraph B, the number of pounds by which the 
license holders exceeded that overall annual quota must be deducted from the following 
year’s overall annual quota allocated to persons licensed under this section. If the overage 
exceeds the overall annual quota allocated to persons licensed under this section for the 
following year, the overage must be deducted from the overall annual quota allocated to 
persons licensed under this section in subsequent years until the entire overage has been 
accounted for.
The commissioner may adopt or amend rules on an emergency basis if immediate action is 
necessary to establish and implement the elver individual fishing quota in advance of the 
beginning of the elver fishing season.
Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, 
chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.
Sec. 3.  12 MRSA §6505-A, sub-§3-B is enacted to read:
3-B.  Quota exceptions.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the 
contrary, a holder of an elver fishing license that is fishing on behalf of another license 
holder pursuant to subsection 1-G may not take, possess or sell more than the combined 
quotas authorized under that holder's own license and under the license of the holder for 
whom they are fishing or selling.
SUMMARY
This bill allows a holder of an elver fishing license to allow on that license holder's 
behalf another elver fishing license holder to fish for, take, possess and sell elvers.  The 
license holder performing these licensed activities must be in possession of the other license 
holder's license and elver transaction card.  The bill also allows the holder of the elver 
fishing license who is fishing on behalf of another license holder to take, possess or sell up 
to the combined quotas of the 2 licenses.