Bill would scrap town clam rules > Statewide standard urged

ROCKLAND — A proposal to abolish municipal shellfish ordinances creates the potential for a collision between two of Maine’s most cherished traditions — local control and open access to marine resources. It is expected to lead to heated testimony before the Marine Resources Committee this legislative session.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Marge Kilkelly of Wiscasset, would scrap the myriad town clam harvesting rules and replace them with one statewide standard — and one state clamming license. Although specifics of the bill are still to be written, the Lincoln County Democrat says battle lines already are being drawn.

“I’ve had a lot of calls about this. People are either very opposed or very supportive,” Kilkelly said. “Nobody’s in the middle. It definitely will be a big issue because it’s an important issue. It’s an issue of fairness.”

Under the current system, towns or groups of towns that have formed regional shellfish committees set the number of clam licenses they will issue each year, reserve most for town residents and make a small number available to nonresidents by lottery.

State law requires municipal and regional shellfish ordinances to make the number of nonresident licenses no less than 10 percent of the number of resident licenses issued, and sets the maximum cost of a license at $200 for residents and $400 for nonresidents. In addition, commercial diggers must buy a $63 state license. Maine has about 1,600 commercial diggers.

Although there is considerable variation in what municipal and regional ordinances charge for licenses, few, if any, make more than the bare minimum available to nonresidents, according to Department of Marine Resources statistics.

For example, the ordinance jointly adopted by Wiscasset and Woolwich charges residents and nonresidents the same $150 for a license, but diggers must buy a separate license for each town. Each town issues 10 resident licenses a year and only one nonresident license.

A new five-town shellfish organization for Thomaston, South Thomaston, Warren, Cushing and St. George charges residents and nonresidents the maximum allowed by law for licenses, $200 and $400. The district sells 125 resident licenses per year and offers just 12 to nonresidents.

“It’s the only fishery we administer that way and it’s simply unfair,” Kilkelly said. “The economic reality of the coastal regions is that the very people who rely on clams for essential income can no longer afford to live in the coastal communities. They’re forced inland and are being cut off from this resource. Open access to a vital resource for all the people of Maine is, in this case, more important than home rule.”

Kilkelly was elected to the Senate last fall after four terms representing House District 57. “Over the years, as the municipal ordinances gained strength, I’d hear from more and more of my inland constituents who were being shut out. As nonresidents in a lottery, they had maybe a 1-in-10 chance at getting a license.

“There’s been a real domino effect — as one town passed an ordinance that was very restrictive to nonresidents, the next town over would adopt one even more restrictive. I’ve heard of people who had to spend up to $1,000 for licenses as a nonresident,” she said.

“We’re supposed to be supporting small business development. Well, what’s a smaller business than one guy out digging clams? The ability to earn a living should not be decided by these artificial boundaries, by what town you live in,” she said.

Kilkelly said some municipal and regional committees have done good work in enforcement, flat reseeding, water-quality monitoring, and in making conservation work a condition of licensure “but it’s been spotty. Some invest a lot into the resource, some do very little. I’d like to see the best of what the municipalities have done become the state standard.”

The law would not take effect until next January, Kilkelly said, “to give us time to determine what the cost of this one state license should be and to set up a mechanism to continue using the expertise of the local shellfish committees in matters of conservation. We will need more state wardens, so the license fee has to be enough to raise the standard of enforcement, yet be more reasonable than what nonresidents of coastal towns are paying now, without placing any more burden on the local property tax.”

Kilkelly said she expects strong opposition from coastal towns, “so I plan on working hard with the inland legislators to show them how their constituents are being shut out of this resource. I’m enough of a realist to know that this may not pass the first time around. If not, I’ll at least use this as an opportunity to educate people on the negative way so many Maine citizens are being impacted by our current policies.”