Fishing rules face challenge Coalition proposes catch-and-kill law

When the state’s head fisheries biologists begin a series of hearings around the state to gather input on their proposed fishing regulations, they’ll go from Ellsworth to Calais, over to Standish and on to Rangeley, before bracing for the heated debate that is sure to occur in Greenville, where a catch-and-kill law has been proposed by the Moosehead Lake Fisheries Coalition.

New fishing rules as recommended by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will be presented at five of the six public hearings to be held in the next four weeks.

The Greenville hearing, however, will be held to garner input on rule changes suggested by the Moosehead Coalition, a 400-member nonprofit group that has the mission of improving the quality of fishing.

The string of meetings, which all begin at 6:30 p.m., start Wednesday at Ellsworth City Hall. Subsequent hearings will be held Aug. 9 in Calais, Aug. 16 in Standish, Aug. 28 in Rangeley, Aug. 30 in Greenville, and Sept. 6 in Bingham.

After DIF&W Commissioner Lee Perry reviews all the public testimony, he will seek the Advisory Council’s approval on the rules he wants passed. Those rules endorsed by the council will go into the 2002 Open Water and Ice Fishing Regulations Booklets.

The Moosehead Lake Fisheries Coalition is not the first to propose the unusual regulation that mandates that when an angler catches an illegally stocked fish he must kill it. Illegally stocked fish are introduced into a lake or pond by anglers who prefer the species.

The fish that the coalition wants removed from Moosehead Lake are white perch, yellow perch and bass.

There is precedent elsewhere in the country for the catch-and-kill rule, and some Maine anglers want to see it here, because some warm water fish out-compete other fish for food.

The rule has applied to lake trout in Yellowstone Lake and the Yellowstone River in Wyoming since 1994 when it became apparent that lake trout were harming the native cutthroat population.

In June, Dennis Smith of Mount Desert proposed the regulation at a hearing in Ellsworth. But his proposal was shot down by anglers who oppose the catch-and-kill rule because the catch-and-release ethic is so strong in Maine and because they don’t feel people should be forced by law to kill a fish.

DIF&W Fisheries Director Peter Bourque said the department endorsed the Moosehead Coalition’s proposed no-size-or-bag-limit rule on warm water fish in Moosehead Lake, but the rule requiring that all warm water fish caught in Moosehead Lake must be killed will cause division among the biologists in DIF&W and the public.

But Bourque also said some within DIF&W are concerned with the populations of illegally stocked fish, which negatively affect other species like brook trout.

“Maybe when they hear the testimony in Greenville, they’ll feel differently [about a catch-and-kill rule],” Bourque said.

Moosehead Coalition Vice President Ed Courtenay said the proposal at least will create discussion among fishermen about the problems that concern the group.

“We’ll see what the fishing public wants,” Courtenay said. “They may shoot it all to ribbons like Dennis Smith’s proposal. We might just get people to look at what we’re saying, especially with illegal fish. We can’t sit like an ostrich with our head in the sand.”

While the most controversy over this year’s proposed fishing rules is likely to occur in Greenville, the hearings in Ellsworth and Calais next week may draw their share of heated debate.

DIF&W regional fisheries biologist Ron Brokaw in the Down East area said increasing the minimum length on brook trout to 14 inches in Alligator Lake, east of Old Town, will give the fish a chance to spawn again and increase the population, as occurred when the length was changed to 12 inches. While some fishermen may fight it, he said the idea came from anglers.

A proposal for Green Lake aims at much the same results. Brokaw said he and his staff are hoping to increase the abundance and size of bass by closing the water to bass fishing during the winter and allowing anglers to take one bass that exceeds 16 inches, rather than 14 inches, a proposal that ice fishermen may not like.

But Brokaw said there has been a sharp decline in the proportion of bigger bass in the lake the past eight years. The veteran biologist added that he’s seen bass in Big Lake in Washington County grow to 16 and 17 inches after the minimum length there increased. Moreover, he said the 2,889-acre Green Lake, which is 15 miles south of Bangor, is heavily fished.

Another regulation that may draw the ire of ice fishermen is a proposal to reduce the trap limit on Hosea Pug Lake to two lines.

Brokaw said game wardens the past few years have noted a high harvest of splake during the winter. Brokaw said the 50-acre lake in Washington County can’t afford the pressure.

There are 90 minor regulations proposed by DIF&W for which there will be no public hearings. Copies of the proposals can be obtained from DIF&W and written comments sent to Perry for consideration.

Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation for the NEWS. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.