Opinion ID: 1968529
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Family Member Exemption

Text: [¶ 4] The 1995 Amendments set a limit of 1,200 traps per boat, with a phase-in period and exceptions for license-holders who are family members fishing from the same boat. 12 M.R.S.A. § 6431-D(2)(B) (Supp. 1996). [3] Daley argues that the exemption draws an invidious distinction between classes of Maine citizens and thereby violates the equal protection clauses of the Maine and United States Constitutions. [¶ 5] The family member exemption to the boat trap limit implicates neither a fundamental right nor an inherently suspect classification, and therefore will survive an equal protection challenge if its different treatment of similarly situated persons bears any conceivable rational relation to a legitimate state interest. Aseptic Packaging Council v. State, 637 A.2d 457, 459-60 (Me.1994). The family member exemption passes this test. There is no dispute that the 1995 Amendments advance legitimate state interests in protecting the marine environment and the conservation of natural resources. See, e.g., Maine v. Taylor, 477 U.S. 131, 140, 106 S.Ct. 2440, 2448, 91 L.Ed.2d 110 (1986) (upholding statute prohibiting importation of out-of-state baitfish); State v. Richardson, 285 A.2d 842, 844-45 (Me.1972) (state may legitimately prohibit possession of lobsters on board any boat rigged for otter or beam trawling). Moreover, the provision does not draw an invidious distinction between classes of Maine citizens. The Legislature may have determined that the tradition of family-related license-holders fishing from a single boat did not pose a threat to the lobster resource, while allowing an unlimited number of unrelated license-holders to do so would have placed too much pressure on the fishing resource. [4] See Aseptic Packaging, 637 A.2d at 460 (in performing rational basis analysis, court may go beyond face of statute to determine whether any conceivable state of facts exists to support it).