PORTLAND, Maine - Maine fishery regulators are proposing a sea urchin fishing season that would establish rules for a swipe card system to record transactions when urchins are bought or sold.
Regulators say the rules would cover the 2015-16 fishing season, which begins in September and concludes in March. The southern coast would have a 15-day season for divers, trappers, rakers and draggers of urchins. The season for most of the northern coast would be 38 days long. Regulators are proposing the same number of days as last year for both zones.
The urchin regulations will be the subject of two public hearings. The first is May 18 in Augusta and the second is May 19 in Ellsworth.
Maine regulators say the state's urchin fishery was valued at nearly $5.4 million in 2014.