A municipality with an approved municipal shellfish conservation program may specify intertidal areas to be limited for mussel harvesting by drag in accordance with 12 M.R.S. §6671. The municipality's specified intertidal areas and procedures for enforcement shall be submitted to the Commissioner for approval as part of its Municipal Shellfish Conservation Ordinance. Once these specified areas are approved, they will be posted on the Department's website. The municipality shall provide sufficient notification to the public of any area limited for mussel harvesting by drag by publishing, advertising and/or posting in public places, an official municipal notice signed by the shellfish warden five (5) days prior to the initial implementation date. The method of notification must be approved by the Department prior to approval of areas limited for mussel harvesting by drag.
Upon receipt of a request for a recommendation regarding a permit, presented in accordance with Chapter 7.70(2), the municipality shall provide its recommendations to the applicant within 21 days.
Prior to issuance of an Intertidal Mussel Harvest permit in an approved, municipally defined area(s), the applicant shall submit their application to the Department who will forward it to the municipality. The completed permit application, and municipal recommendation must be provided to the Department by the respective party for permit consideration, in accordance with 12 M.R.S. §6671(3)(A)(5).
The application shall include the harvester's name, address, business phone, email address, fax number, vessel name and registration number, mussel harvesting license number, locations selected, start and end dates of harvest activity, targeted quantity of seed mussels and or market size product, and date of application.
Any failure to comply with permit conditions shall be grounds for refusal of future permit applications until the Commissioner deems the applicant can meet the permit conditions.
13- 188 C.M.R. ch. 7, § 70