Read the warning signs: Two sides must team up

Sunday, August 31, 2003

OUTDOORS: Deirdre Fleming

The relationship between Maine fishermen and state biologists is like a bad marriage. Both parties may share the same interests, or even the same philosophies.

But when emotions run high, each ends up pointing the finger of blame at the other.

The two will have to reconcile their differences if Maine is to make any progress on the alarming problem of non-native fish spreading throughout Maine's native trout and salmon waters. And they'll have to work together soon.

The problem of illegal introductions has been going on for more than a decade. But the northern pike found in Sebago Lake in May brought a new level of concern to the issue, said John Boland with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

As a result of the discovery, Boland said, Gov. John Baldacci signed emergency legislation that now makes it illegal to move a live fish.

Boland said in addition, signs went up around Sebago Lake, the first to alert fishermen to the danger posed by illegally introduced species to Maine's game fisheries.

In the coming weeks, about 50 new signs will be posted along the Kennebec River drainage, where bass are threatening the trout fisheries. The signs will alert anglers to the need to catch all sizes of bass - and as many as possible.

Boland, the state's director of inland fisheries operations, said the department is focused on educating fishermen to the problem of illegal introductions. But that mission, he said, would not be possible without the help of dozens of volunteers.

New signs warning anglers about non-native fish will be spread along the Kennebec River and elsewhere in the state by the department, with the help of Trout Unlimited, the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine and fishermen such as Jeff Levesque.

But even Levesque, a member of both Trout Unlimited and the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, which helped fund the signs, is also miffed at the department for not doing more.

In fact, while he is coordinating the signs in the Rangeley region, Levesque doubts the signs encouraging the S13 regulation (no size or bag limit on bass) will help much because of the strong catch-and-release ethic in Maine.

George Smith, director of the alliance, agreed.

"It's wrenching to convince ourselves that we have to kill any fish," Smith said. "There are still lots of anglers who won't do it even if you ask them to."

Signs are good, Levesque said, but funding research, having a team respond to new introductions instantly, and actively culling the bass populations are needed.

In fact, Boland said, the first bit of grant money was obtained recently to combat the problem of illegal introductions.

Boland said a $60,000 federal grant will allow his department, along with the Department of Environmental Protection, to form a rapid response team to research solutions that have been found in other states.

The program is still in the planning stages, Boland said, but meanwhile, an unofficial rapid response system does exist.

That became evident after the pike was found in Sebago. For three days after that, biologists Jim Pellerin and Francis Brautigam took out an electro-fishing boat, which helps to stun and catch fish, and labored to find more pike in Sebago.

The department also made signs telling anglers to kill any pike they caught and posted them around Sebago Lake, Boland said.

This is the kind of response Levesque said he wants to see - but more often.

"There was a big call to arms on Sebago," he said. "Meanwhile, there are thousands of bass in the Rapid River. There is no program, no rapid response (there)."

The problem for the department is that the invasion continues at a rapid pace.

In the last two weeks, a pike was found in Estes Lake in Sanford.

Boland said new avenues are being explored for preventing illegal introductions, but that process is slow for a department crippled by budget cuts and a lack of General Fund money.

"I find it insulting to say we sit idly by, because we don't," Boland said. "Bear in mind, we have limited manpower."

This is where more interested anglers such as Levesque can help.

Levesque said he reached out to the department, not the other way around.

Maybe more anglers should step forward. At the very least, they should practice community policing.

Only time will tell if the new signs going up around the state will help to clarify the message that anglers are needed to help cull the bass populations where they threaten the state's native trout and salmon fisheries.

Jeff Reardon, Trout Unlimited's New England conservation director, thinks the effort will go a long way toward educating the ignorant.

Emphasizing that illegal stocking is wrong by posting signs at access sites will assure for the first time that every angler taking a canoe or boat onto that body of water will be educated about the problem, Reardon said.

"To most, a fish is a fish, and the more the better. They don't understand the long-term impact," Reardon said. "Somebody is (moving fish) and they think they're doing a good thing."

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com

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