Maine Coast News
March 27, 2004
Contact: Penobscot Bay Watch (207) 594-5717
Marine Resources Committee gives Aquaculture Reform Bill "Ought To Pass",
(With a minority & a majority report.) Download the Majority version of LD 1857
Augusta. On March 17th the Maine Legislature's Marine Resources Committee cast a final vote of "ought to pass," on an amended aquaculture reform bill, mustering out both a majority report and a minority report. The bill now goes to the full legislature for consideration
Both versions of the billl allow fishfarms to increase to 500 acres in size, strip municipalities of any authority to charge mooring fees for fishpens or shellfish cages and rafts, and direct the Land and Water Resources Council to study Bay Management. The majority report sets a 1,000 foot distance cap on areas where recreation and public enjoyment could be considered impacted by aquaculture operations; the Minority report has no cap.
The committee voted 10 to 2 "Ought To Pass As Amended" on the Majority Report version of the bill, LD 1857. Representatives Nancy Sullivan and Edward Dugay voted in favor of the Minority Report. Representative Jeff Kaelin was absent.
DIfferences in minority and majority report.
Sections 7 and 16 of the majority report caps at 1000 feet the maximum distance that aquaculture can impact "public use or enjoyment of a beach, park or docking facility owned by federal, state or a municipal government or conserved lands"
The minority report wording does not have a distance cap in those sections, leaving it to the aquaculture license examiner to determine if the impact is significant, regardless of distance.
Both versions allow expansion of lease acreage from 250 to a maximum of 500 acres, with the proviso that 200 acres must be in a "fallowed" state at any given time.. Fallowed is defined in the bill as " a lease site without cultured fish, shellfish, scallops and gear except marked mooring blocks."
Both versions strip municipalities of authority to charge mooring fees for aquaculture pens and cages. Wording: "Municipalities may not charge mooring fees for and do not have jurisdiction over the siting or specifications of structural moorings used to secure aquaculture equipment within the boundaries of a lease site.."
Both versions direct the Land and Water Resources Council to conduct a study of Bay Management, including establishing pilot projects on selected bays.
No date has been set yet for consideration of the bill by the full Legislature, according to Assistant DMR Commissioner David Etnier.
Official Summary of the bill:
The official summary from the bill both versions of the billL
Summary
This amendment is the majority report and replaces the bill. This amendment does the following:
1. Removes the Department of Marine Resources as the primary agency responsible for the promotion and marketing of the aquaculture industry;
2. Defines agricultural products to include aquaculture products;
3. Increases the number of lease acres a person can be a tenant of from 250 to 300 and authorizes the commissioner to allow a person to exceed the 300 acre lease limit if that person provides a fallowing plan to the commissioner identifying lease sites that will remain fallow for at lease 12 months. It also defines "fallow" and limits the total amount of active and fallowed lease acreage that can be held by one person to 500 acres;
4. Expands the decision criteria the Commissioner of Marine Resources must consider for a new lease to include private beaches, parks, and docking facilities. Current law limits this criteria to leases within a 1,000 feet of government owned beaches, parks and docking facilities. This amendment also removes the 1,000 feet requirement. It also requires the Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources to consider whether a proposed lease will interfere with certain "conserved lands" that includes governmental land held in fee to protect important ecological, recreational, scenic, cultural or historic attributes of that property and land that has been protected through fee ownership or conservation easement with funding from the Land for Maine's Future Fund.
5. Authorizes the Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources to consider more than one lease renewal application at a public hearing;
6. Makes technical changes to reflect requirements in MePDES permits and to facilitate the transition from the Finfish Aquaculture Monitoring Program to the MePDES permit and to require finfish aquaculture leaseholders to get approval from the Department of Marine Resources of contractors to be used by leaseholders for data collection required by law;
7. Grants a municipality that has a shellfish conservation program the authority to lease mud flats within its jurisdiction. It requires the municipality to publish a summary of the proposed lease and allows for public comment for 30 days after the publication of the application summary. It also requires a municipality to adopt ordinances that establish procedures for consideration of a lease and requires the municipality to hold a public hearing prior to the granting of the lease if requested by 5 or more people in writing. This amendment provides the decision criteria a municipality must consider when making a decision on a proposed lease which closely follows the decision criteria for aquaculture leases. Additionally, it requires the municipality to forward an approved lease to the department and provides that a municipality may not charge more than $50 and acre for a lease. It gives the municipality authority to put conditions and limits on a lease and caps the length of a lease at 10 years renewable upon application of the leaseholder. Finally, it requires a municipality to hold a public hearing on a lease renewal application if requested in writing by 5 or more people and provides that a lease renewal must be granted if it continues to meet the decision criteria; and
8. Establishes the Aquaculture Management Fund to develop and manage and water quality licensing and monitoring criteria for aquaculture and to analyze collected data, process license applications and to make information about aquaculture available to the public.
9. Increases certain aquaculture fees and establishes new fees related to aquaculture leases; revenues raised pursuant to these fees are dedicated to the Aquaculture Management Fund.
10. It repeals the 1cent per pound tax assessed on finfish.
11. Provides that municipalities may not charge a mooring fee for and does not have jurisdiction over siting or specifications of structural moorings used to secure aquaculture equipment. It grants authority to municipalities for boat and vessel moorings inside the boundaries of an aquaculture lease site. It prohibits a municipality from charging a mooring fee for such moorings that are inconsistent with other mooring fees for commercial vessels.
12. Part B of the amendment requires the Land and Water Resource Council "LWRC" to under take a study of bay management. The intent of this study is to explore and document potential new and innovative concepts for the management of Maine's embayments through a 2-year pilot initiative. It requires LWRC to begin this work no later than September 1, 2004 and to submit an interim report by January 15, 2005 and a final report to the Joint Standing Committee of Marine Resources no later than January 15, 2007. The study must be carried out under the direction of the LWRC with work preformed by an interagency staff work group with input of a project steering committee consisting of members of the public with expertise relevant fields of interest. It also directs the LWRC to create one or more pilot projects of limited duration in a representative region or regions of the state. The amendment authorizes the interagency work group to meet as necessary to fulfill its duties and specifies that meetings of the LWRC are open to the public. It further directs the State Planning Office and the Department of Marine Resources tol provide staff services to the LWRC and requires that the Commissioner of the State Planning Office use funds from the department's existing resources and other outside sources to cover the costs associated with this study.
13. Part C of the amendment sets forth vision and principle statements as guidance for the future of aquaculture in Maine.
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