Committee hears DMR, industry back limited‑purpose aquaculture license and streamlined lease amendments; growers seek clearer sampling rules
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Summary
LD 2025 would create a limited‑purpose license for nursery and husbandry aquaculture activities and reorganize the lease amendment process. DMR and the Aquaculture Advisory Council supported the bill, while growers requested clearer rules on inspector sampling and protection of private property.
Representative Morgan Riley presented LD 2025, a department bill to create a new limited‑purpose aquaculture license for nursery and short‑duration husbandry activities and to clarify the lease amendment process for standard aquaculture leases.
Amanda Ellis, DMR director of aquaculture, said the new license addresses a problem where licensees obtaining multiple limited‑purpose aquaculture (LPA) licenses to reach an operational size would instead be able to purchase a single license capped at 1,600 square feet. The DMR proposed that organisms placed on the new license site must be early life stages moved to a lease or LPA site within six months, that the license may be held by firms or political subdivisions (not limited to individuals), and that rulemaking will define approved gear and operating standards.
On lease amendments, DMR proposed separating minor species changes (which could be handled administratively if they comply with existing lease conditions) from more significant gear or equipment changes that would require public notice to riparian owners and municipalities and a comment period (DMR said it would seek to expand the current 14‑day comment window to 30 days during rulemaking).
Industry advocates including the Aquaculture Advisory Council, Island Institute, and Maine Aquaculture Association said the bill would remove unnecessary burden and encourage innovation. However, multiple aquaculturists raised concerns about a draft inspection provision that would authorize DMR inspectors to "raise equipment and take samples," arguing that organisms on leases are private property and that unspecific sampling language risked warrantless seizure and commercial harm. Growers asked the committee to require clearer limits on when sampling occurs, the purpose of samples, data handling and disclosure, and whether public health sampling would follow different protocols.
The committee asked DMR for a bulleted summary of the proposed statutory changes and for draft rules and budget implications at the work session. No committee vote on LD 2025 was taken at the hearing.