Augusta - The Maine Department of Marine Resources has announced the latest winners of the state's scallop license lottery. The winners include the following:
Drag Licenses:
- Hannah Whalen, Gouldsboro
- Daren Dames, Addison
- Colby Barnes, Harpswell
- Lee Moore, Newcastle
- Scott Young, Tenants Harbor
- Joshua Miller, Tenants Harbor
Dive Licenses:
- Joseph Sullivan, Deer Isle
- Jakob Fredette, Pembroke
- William Hamill, Scarborough
- Jason Cray, West Bath
- Justin Seavey, Bass Harbor
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.
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.