Current through 2024-38, September 18, 2024
Effective December 15, 2023, the following electronic
tracking device requirements apply to all federally permitted lobster and crab
license holders, as defined in section A.
A.
Definitions
1. Approved Tracking Device means an
electronic device that meets all the specifications outlined in Section
3.1 of the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission Addendum XXIX to the American Lobster Fishery Management
Plan and which has been approved for use by the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission.
2. Federally
permitted lobster and crab fishing license holder means an individual who is
eligible for a commercial Maine state license or who is licensed to fish
commercially for lobster and crab under
12
MRS6421 or
12
MRS6302-A who also holds a federal lobster
and crab commercial trap gear permit for any of the Lobster Conservation
Management Areas (LCMAs) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or the Outer Cape Cod on the vessel
identified on their lobster and crab fishing license.
B.
Electronic Tracking Device
Requirements
1. Prior to their first
lobster and crab fishing trip following December 15, 2023, federally permitted
lobster and crab fishing license holders are required to install an approved
tracking device.
2. Federally
permitted lobster and crab fishing license holders are required to certify to
the Department of Marine Resources when they have completed the installation of
the approved tracking device. To submit their certification, federally
permitted lobster and crab fishing license holders must complete an electronic
form available through the Department of Marine Resources publicly accessible
website.
C.
Prohibitions
Unless a federally permitted lobster and crab fishing
license holder has made notification to the Department as provided in (E.) the
following prohibitions apply.
1. It is
unlawful for a federally permitted lobster and crab fishing license holder to
fish for, take, possess, or land lobster or Jonah crab taken with trap gear
without having an approved tracking device installed aboard the permitted
vessel listed on their license.
2.
It is unlawful for a federally permitted lobster and crab fishing license
holder to remove or have removed the approved tracking device from the
permitted vessel listed on their license without written approval from the
Department of Marine Resources.
3.
It is unlawful for a federally permitted lobster and crab fishing license
holder to allow the permitted vessel listed on their license to be operated in
the coastal waters of the State without the approved tracking device being
powered by an external power source at all times; an exception to this
requirement exists when the vessel is moored or docked at berth.
4. The approved tracking device must remain
in an operational condition, minimally powered by an internal battery, when a
permitted vessel is docked, moored, or removed from the water. The license
holder shall notify the Department of Marine Resources prior to an approved
tracking device being rendered inoperative in instances where the permitted
vessel is removed from the coastal waters for an extended period of time or for
purposes of repairing or replacing an approved tracking device.
5. It is unlawful for a person to tamper with
an approved tracking device or device signal; tampering includes any activity
that may affect the unit's ability to operate or signal properly or to
accurately compute or report the vessel's position. Tampering with an approved
tracking device is not considered to occur in circumstances where an approved
tracking device is being repaired or replaced provided the license holder has
written approval from the Department of Marine Resources.
D.
Exemptions
The following federally permitted lobster and crab fishing
license holders are exempt from the electronic tracking requirements.
1. A federally permitted license holder who
holds a federal commercial trap gear permit that has been placed in
confirmation of permit history (CPH), a permit status for when a vessel with
limited access permits has sunk, been destroyed, or has been sold to another
person without its permit history.
2. A federally permitted license holder who
holds a federal lobster commercial trap gear permit that does not fish trap
gear at any point in the fishing year (i.e., only fishes other gear under a
federal lobster commercial/non-trap permit, charter/party non-trap permit,
and/or does not fish any trap gear at any point in the fishing year).
E.
Device Failure
In the event of an electronic tracking device failure, a
violation of the prohibitions in section (C) shall not exist when the federally
permitted lobster and crab fishing license holder makes notification of the
failure to the Department by phone, text message, or email prior to beginning a
fishing trip with the inoperable device. The license holder must work with the
Department in good faith and in a timely manner to restore device operability
as soon as possible. It is unlawful for a license holder to begin subsequent
fishing trips with an inoperable device without written approval from the
Department.
In circumstances where a federally permitted lobster and
crab fishing license holder has reported frequent or repeated tracking device
failures aboard a permitted vessel, a Marine Patrol Officer, after having given
notice to that license holder, may require that license holder to obtain
written approval from the Department prior to beginning a fishing trip with an
inoperable tracking device.
*Summary statements, like notes, are not part of the text of
rule chapters. They are included here at the request of the
agency.
