STRONG – An all-out war is about to erupt in Rangeley. But it’s not between people.

Instead, the fight pits man against bass, voracious predators of juvenile trout that were illegally introduced into Umbagog Lake during the mid-1980s.

Now, the bass are threatening economic livelihoods in the Rangeley Chain of Lakes, an area that’s world-renowned for its outstanding brook trout and landlocked salmon.

According to the latest tally, non-native smallmouth bass and largemouth bass – both widely entrenched in southern, central and parts of eastern Maine – have established new populations since 1986 in 57 additional lakes thanks to illegal fish stockings.

“It’s a pretty significant problem,” said Don Palmer, president of the Rangeley Region Guides’ and Sportsmen’s Association. “We’re one bucket away from having the fish being in Mooselook and Rangeley lakes and that’s a big economic issue for us.”

That’s why they convened a special conference with statewide organizations Wednesday at their Oquossoc clubhouse to brainstorm ways to combat the bass that have successfully colonized the Rapid River in Upton and Magalloway Plantation.

Fisheries biologist Dave Boucher of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in Strong likened the conference to a war-room type of gathering.

“We are trying to raise public awareness, but we really need to put it on the same plane as what’s been done with invasive plant species,” Boucher said.

He believes it’s now or never to mount an aggressive campaign aimed at educating the public while mitigating the advance of invading bass.

–Jaws parody brochure–

A brochure sporting a parody of the Jaws promotional poster and theme has been out for nearly a year, said Peter Bourque, MDIF&W’s director of fisheries program development.

The brochure’s front cover, entitled “Be Aware of Aquatic Invaders – Stop Disastrous Illegal Fish Stocking,” depicts a large, toothy walleye rising from aquatic vegetation toward a brook trout.

On an inside panel, there’s a photo of a shark in a fishbowl pursuing goldfish to further illustrate the current epidemic of illegal fish stocking that threatens to destroy native fisheries.

Bourque said the brochure, which was designed by Andy Collar of Ursus Productions in Waterville, is a joint venture between MDIF&W and the Sportsmen’s Alliance of Maine.

But while Boucher believes the brochure is a wonderful approach, he thinks it’s not being distributed across the state as well as invasive milfoil information.

“The epidemic of illegal fish stocking is co-equal in seriousness to invasive milfoil to our aquatic eco-water systems,” he said.

Boucher feels the brochures should be distributed at every tollbooth on the turnpike, and made available at every boat launch and town office in Maine.

–Grants–

A grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund paid for the first 50,000 brochure copies. A second such grant this year bought another 50,000 copies, which are currently being distributed, said SAM Executive Director George Smith.

“The more we can educate the people and do preventions, the better off we’ll be,” Smith said.

That brochure was just complemented by a $60,000 federal grant which MDIF&W received from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Aquatic Nuisance Plan, Bourque said.

“We applied for $100,000 but we got $60,000,” he added. “But we’ll take it and put together a rapid response protocol to combat illegal fish introductions.”

-Battle lines–

Currently, battle lines have been drawn at the Rapid River and Pond in the River at the Middle Dam outlet of Lower Richardson Lake in Township C.

Here, Boucher says is where biologists expect the ever-swelling bass population to explode shortly due to ideal habitat for smallmouth bass that the two water bodies and Umbagog Lake provide.

“Once they’ve arrived and established themselves, opportunities to eradicate them are virtually nil. Opportunities to control them are costly. It’s a sad story in the Rapid River,” Boucher said.

The 3.2-mile-long Rapid River is famed for its large native brook trout, which are in excess of four pounds, Boucher said. The river also sports an abundant population of small, landlocked salmon, which are more tolerant of bass than trout.

Pond in the River encompasses 512 acres and provides important habitat for adult trout from the Rapid River. Both waters drain to the 7,850-acre Umbagog Lake, which then forms the Androscoggin River in New Hampshire.

“Eradicating bass from this immense and biologically complex ecosystem is impossible because their reproductive potential is very high and habitat for all life stages is excellent,” Boucher said.

However, it may be possible to control bass populations in a few small, carefully defined areas in the Rapid River, but the level of effort may be beyond the scope of current MDIF&W financial and staff resources, Boucher added.

–Top priorities in the war on bass–

Priorities that came out of Wednesday’s Rangeley Guides’ conference include engineering work to build bass barriers, hiring a consultant with some of the grant money to research scientific literature about controlling bass, educational outreach programs and a genetics study of Rapid River trout to determine if they should be managed as an endangered species.

“While we may never eradicate bass, there are lots of projects coming out now to try and keep their populations in check that we need to implement,” Smith added.

On their own, bass are prevented from accessing other large lakes in the Rangeley Chain because of several major dams owned and operated by Florida Power and Light Energy.

“As far as we know, bass haven’t reached (Middle Dam) yet, but they will,” Boucher said.

Palmer, Smith and Boucher anticipate additional illegal stockings from the new Rapid River “reservoir” of bass.

That’s why Smith says all eyes are on Rangeley.

“There is enough support and wealth in the Rangeley area to do everything they can to resolve the problem, but if they can’t do it there, then that’s it,” Smith added.

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