Augusta – The Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) has announced the latest winners of the state’s scallop license lotteries. The winners include the following:
Drag Licenses
Jeremy J. Card II, Ellsworth
Brettin M. Dinsmore, Harrington
Casey M. Taylor, Cutler
Spencer L. Thompson, Harrington
Benjamin Perry, Cape Elizabeth
Christopher J. Gross, Deer Isle
Corey A. Prock II, Nobleboro
Vance E. Gove, Jr., Deer Isle
Dive Licenses
Maxwell Burtis, Brunswick
Stephen Warner, Phippsburg
Sam F. Rosen, Vinalhaven
Kaitlyn N. Weaver, Thomaston
Each has been notified and will be responsible for applying for a license within 30 days of notification.
The new licenses are the result of a limited entry system established by the legislature and implemented through regulation in June 2018 that allows someone who did not hold a scallop license in the previous year to be eligible for one.
Under the regulation, each year two individuals will be awarded eligibility for a drag license through the lottery for every three individuals who did not renew their drag license in the previous calendar year. One person will also be awarded license eligibility for every person who held a commercial dive license but did not renew their license in the previous calendar year.
This year there were 66 entries for dive licenses and 1172 entries for drag licenses. With $35 of each lottery entry fee deposited into DMR’s Scallop Research Fund, a total of $43,330 was raised to support scallop research and management.
Lottery winners were chosen at random by InforME, an enterprise created in 1997 by state law to ensure access to public information through technological solutions.
Maine’s scallop fishery has rebounded since 2009, when landings were 79,923 meat pounds (without the shell), to 522,193 meat pounds harvested in 2022.
Information on the 2023-2024 season can be found at https://www.maine.gov/dmr/fisheries/commercial/fisheries-by-species/scallops/2023-24-maine-scallop-season-overview