AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has signed into law a bill that bars state agencies from prohibiting or regulating the storage of lobster traps, buoys, lines and bait bags on docks.

LePage says the law is an example of how the state is removing unnecessary regulations that burden working families.

The bill was introduced following a South Bristol lobsterman’s four-year battle with regulators to get the OK to stack traps on his dock.

The Department of Environmental Protection had ruled it was OK to build the pier, but another state agency said it couldn’t hold traps because the shade they cast would harm marine plants. In the end, the state relented so the traps could be stored on the pier, but the new law will prevent such battles in the future.