HB 442 (2023)
Schedule events to clean up derelict fishing gear
Prohibits the use of state resources or funds to enforce lobstering regulations in federal waters. This bill also establishes a scuba diver recreational lobster license.
The House rewrote the bill. The amended bill still establishes a scuba diver recreational lobster license. It also requires persons lobstering with a commercial license to record the location of where a lobster trap is placed and make a good faith effort to retrieve such trap if it becomes detached from its buoy.
The Senate also rewrote the bill. Their version of the bill requires the Department of Fish and Game to schedule events for the collection, retrieval, and disposal of derelict fishing gear in coastal waters.
A conference committee of representatives and senators agreed to support the Senate version of the bill. The conference committee added a report requirement on the derelict fishing gear cleanup program.
