Out and About: Here we go again. Word from Quebec’s Matapedia River is that the Restigouche Band Indians’ nets are in and out like the tides. Each spring and summer, the otherwise peaceful valleys of the Matapedia and Restigouche rivers echo with news of agreements, violation of agreements, and disregard for agreements in regard to Indian netting of Atlantic salmon.

This spring is no different. Sport fishermen paying $400 dollars a day to fish the Restigouche’s and Matapedia’s pools claim that few salmon are entering the rivers because of the Indian nets set in the estuary of the Restigouche. The Indians claim they are exercising their aboriginal rights, and are abiding by the quota of 15,000 pounds of salmon, per an agreement with federal and provincial (New Brunswick) governments.

Included in this year’s agreement was a partial buyout of Indian netting time during the months of June and July. This “checkerboard” agreement was suggested by the Atlantic Salmon Federation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of Atlantic salmon. Per the agreement, the Restigouche Band would be paid $150,000 to abstain from netting on certain dates. The money, of course, would be paid by sportsmen. Word is that private salmon fishing camps will pay $2,000 per angler that the camp accommodates at one time. For example, a camp that accommodates six anglers will pay $12,000 for the season.

Although some netters of the Restigouche Band were unhappy with the ASF’s participation in the agreement, apparently it was signed. At the beginning of the sport-fishing season (June 1), the nets were up, and all went well until mid-June. At that time, a group of Restigouche Indians employed as steelworkers in Connecticut arrived at the Cross Point Reservation to net salmon, as was their custom each spring. It seems they put their nets down regardless of the agreement. That, of course, resulted in another council meeting. The last I heard was that the problem had been resolved and the nets would be taken up again until July 1.

Round and round it goes. An annual earache of negotiations, agreements, disagreements, violations, threats, etc., in regard to Indian netting. After nearly 20 years of leaving tracks in that country, the only advice I can give is this: if you’re planning a trip to either of those Atlantic salmon strongholds, put your money down, go, and hope for the best.

Speaking of the Matapedia, Pat Gagnon of Presque Isle was on the river early in June. From the picture he sent along, I’d say he was in the right place at the right time. While fishing with Raymond Beaupre, who owns and operates the fishing cabins at Routhierville, Pat hooked one of those “Matapedia Monsters.”

After fighting the river’s high water and the salmon for four hours, the Presque Isle angler brought the fish into a shallows where Raymond was poised with the net. With a well-executed dip, the guide relieved the river of 34 pounds of fresh-run salmon. It was the Presque Isle sportman’s largest Atlantic taken in more than a few years of fishing.

On June 25, beginning at 7:30 p.m., the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will hold an informational meeting dealing with landlocked salmon in East Grand Lake. The meeting, open to the public, will be held at Rideout’s Lodge on East Grand. Information gathered from creel surveys conducted in 1982 and 1990 – open-water fishing and ice-fishing – will be offered and discussed.

Recently, the Army Corps of Engineers’ contacted the city of Bangor in regard to removal of the decrepit Bangor Dam. The Corps of Engineers’ letter stated, as did its previous correspondence with the city, that debris from the dam was entering the Penobscot River continually and that it posed a hazard to the many boats now operating in the river.

Also, the Corps of Engineers requested the city’s proposal for removing the “loose and unstable portions of the timber dam that is in the waterway.” The letter stated that if the city of Bangor provided a specific plan including cost estimates, time schedules, and detailed design of the removal operation by June 15, 1991, the Corps of Engineers “would expect to have all insecure portions of the dilapidated timber portion of the dam removed by Sept. 1, 1991.”

Now, anyone who has given more than a glance to the splintered-timber and spilled-rock eyesore spanning the Penobscot between Bangor and Brewer will agree wholeheartedly that there isn’t much of it remaining that isn’t “insecure” and “dilapidated.” Simply put, it’s a disgrace.

In responding to the Corps of Engineers’ letter, the city of Bangor indicated it would consult with the Maine Atlantic Sea-Run Salmon Commission to develop a dam-removal plan that would least affect the Penobscot’s Atlantic salmon run. City Engineer John Frawley expected that a final plan would be filed by June 15.

That compliance is a big step forward, but don’t be surprised if the dam is still there come September.