MAINE LITTER CONTROL ACT
MRSA, Title 17, Section 2264. Littering prohibited.
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1. Public Property.
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In or on any public highway, road, street, alley. public right-of-way or other public
lands, except in containers, receptacles, or on property that is designated for disposal
of garbage and refuse by the State or its agencies or political subdivisions.
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2. Waters.
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In any fresh water lake, river, stream, tidal or coastal water or on ice over the water.
When any litter is thrown or discarded from a watercraft both the operator of the watercraft,
unless it is a watercraft being used for the carriage of passengers for hire, and the person
actually disposing of the litter are in violation of this section. This subsection does not
prohibit persons who fish, lobster or otherwise harvest from the water from returning to the
water harvested products, bait and similar materials that naturally originate in the water.
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MRSA, Title 38, Section 423. Discharge of Waste from Watercraft
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No person, firm, corporation or other legal entity shall discharge, spill or permit to
be discharged sewage, garbage, or other waste material from watercraft, as defined in
Title 12, Section 7791, and including houseboats, into inland waters of this State, or on
the ice thereof, or on the banks thereof in such a manner that the same may fall or be
washed into such waters, or in such manner that the drainage therefrom may flow into such waters.
Any watercraft, as defined in Title 12, Section 7791, including houseboats, operated upon
the inland waters of this State and having a permanently installed sanitary waste disposal
system shall have securely affixed to the interior discharge opening of said sanitary
waste disposal system a holding tank or suitable container for holding sanitary waste
material so as to prevent its discharge or drainage into the inland waters of the State.
Whoever violates any provision of this section or any regulation adopted under authority
of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine or not
more than $500.
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MRSA, Title 17, Section 2499. Injuring or Cutting Loose Booms, Rafts, Vessels or Boats; Civil Action for Damages.
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Whoever willfully or maliciously, without consent of the owner, cuts away, lets loose,
injuries or destroys and boom, raft or logs or other lumber, or any vessel, gondola, scow
or other boat, fastened to any place, of which he is not the owner or legal possessor,
shall be punished by a fine or not more than $500 and by imprisonment for less than one year;
and shall be liable to the person injured in a civil action for double the damages by him sustained.
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MRSA, Title 14, Section 159-A. Limited Liability for Recreational or Harvesting Activities.
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1. Definitions:
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- "Premises" shall mean improved and unimproved lands, private ways, any buildings
or structures on those lands and waters standing on, flowing through or adjacent
to those lands.
- "Recreational or harvesting activities" means recreational activities conducted
out-of-doors, including hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, hiking, sight-seeing,
operation of snow-traveling and all-terrain vehicles, skiing, hang-gliding, boating,
sailing, canoeing, rafting or swimming or activities that involve harvesting or
gathering forest products. It shall include entry, use and passage over premises
in order to pursue these activities.
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2. Limited Duty.
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An owner, lessee or occupant of premises shall owe no duty of care to keep the premises
safe for entry or use by others for recreational or harvesting activities or to give
warning of any hazardous condition, use, structure or activity on these premises to persons
entering for those purposes.
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3. Permissive Use.
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An owner, lessee or occupant who gives permission to another to pursue recreational or
harvesting activities on the premise shall not thereby:
- Extend any assurance that the premises are safe for those purposes.
- Make the person to whom permission is granted an invitee or licensee to whom a duty of care is owed; or
- Assume responsibility for or incur liability for any injury to persons or property caused by any act of persons to whom the permission is granted.
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4. Limitations on Section.
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This section shall not limit the liability which would otherwise exist:
- For a willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, use, structure or activity;
- For an injury suffered in any case where permission to pursue any recreational or harvesting activities was granted for a consideration other than the consideration, if any, paid to the landowner by the State; or
- For an injury caused, by acts of persons to whom permission to pursue any recreational or harvesting activities was granted, to other persons to whom the person granting permission, or the owner, lessee or occupant of the premises, owed a duty to keep the premises safe or to warn of danger.
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5. No Duty Created.
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Nothing in this section shall create a duty of care or ground of liability for injury to a person or property.
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6. Costs and Fees.
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The court shall award any direct legal costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, to an owner, lessee or occupant who is found not to be liable for injury to a person or property pursuant to this section.
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