DIFW expanding protection of native brook trout and charr

The Department of Inland Fisheries and wildlife stepped up big time to expand protection of our native brook trout and Arctic charr. Recently, they went public with their proposal and I want to share it with you today.

This all began with a bill I submitted in the last legislative session to expand protection to the tributaries to our heritage waters. The department opposed that bill but when they discovered that the legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee was very supportive, the department promised to get the job done.

They formed a working group of a few people to help them with the project and I’m very pleased with the result. Gary Corson of New Sharon, a member of the working group, expressed my thoughts when he said, “This is almost unbelievable, how far we’ve come.”

Here’s the news from DIF&W.

MDIFW Exploring Strategies To Enhance Protections For Brook Trout and Arctic Charr While Preserving Traditional Fishing Methods And Fishing Economies

Maine’s native and wild brook trout lakes, ponds, and flowing waters represent a unique and abundant resource, uncommon anywhere else in the United States.  Maine supports the most extensive distribution and abundance of wild brook trout and Arctic charr in their native US range, and the Department places a high priority on the conservation of these important resources.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is exploring a strategy to maintain fishing opportunities and enhance protections for Maine’s wild brook trout populations within the state’s northern half, which contains our most significant wild trout populations and 95% of Maine’s heritage fish waters.  Maine’s heritage fish waters contain self-sustaining populations of wild brook trout, Arctic charr or both; and either have never been stocked, or have not been stocked for at least 25 years. The 128th Fish and Wildlife Legislative Committee requested we enhance protections on this important resource.

The Department and a group of public partners have formed a heritage working group and are developing and examining concepts that are focused on reducing unintended introductions of baitfish and other fish that compete with native trout, while continuing to maintain current trout fishing opportunities. This includes maintaining opportunities to use live fish as bait where such practices are prevalent, minimizing economic impacts to Maine’s bait industry, and not complicating the fishing law book.

Under the idea currently being discussed, all waters in the northern zone (Franklin, Somerset, Piscataquis, Aroostook, and northern portions of Oxford and Penobscot Counties) that are currently open to ice fishing, where live fish may be used at bait, would remain unchanged. Live fish as bait would continue to be allowed on those same waters during the open water fishing season. Additional waters where there is a tradition of fishing with live fish as bait would also remain open to fishing with live bait.  If advanced as a rule, the Department could add waters where use of live fish as bait would be permitted in support of future fishery management needs.

The strategy, if fully developed and advanced, would result in a change to the general law in the northern zone that would prohibit use of live fish as bait, except where designated by special rule.  For example, under this approach, waters currently open to ice fishing and use of live fish as bait would be assigned a special regulation that would allow use of live fish as bait.  A change to General Law will be easy to understand by the public and should increase compliance.  This change also eliminates most of the “no live fish as bait” special s-code listings currently applied to waters in the northern zone.

This strategy would further reduce new introductions of baitfish and other fish in the vast majority of flowing waters, including dead-waters, small ponds, as well as tributaries and outlets of heritage ponds, while preserving meaningful opportunities to fish with traditional live bait methods in northern Maine.

The Department is striving to balance public use opportunities and concerns regarding new fish introductions that threaten Maine’s unique wild brook trout resources. Maine’s native brook trout already have been severely impacted from introductions and habitat degradation throughout the remainder of their range, including southern coastal Maine.

The Department is planning to hold public informational meetings in the next few months and would welcome your input on the proposal.  The dates and locations have not yet been determined, but will be posted on the Department’s website at www.mefishwildlife.com as soon as the dates are determined.

 

 

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.