GRAY – With smelt running in brooks and streams, anglers who dip nets for bait and forage fish should be mindful of some new laws.

The modifications were designed to increase conservation. The rules also address conflicts in law between recreational and commercial user groups, state Inland Fisheries and Wildlife program manager James Pellerin said by phone Tuesday in Gray, where he is an assistant regional fisheries biologist.

Rainbow smelt are small, slender fish that do not grow larger than 6 or 7 inches in freshwater habitats. Their backs are dark green to olive color while their bright silvery sides shimmer with iridescent hues of purple, blue, green and pink, according to Pellerin.

Smelt are widely distributed throughout Maine with populations in 558 lakes.

According to a department report released Monday, the laws include:

• Restricting recreational and commercial anglers to a 24-inch diameter dip-net when dipping in or within 100 feet of the mouth of a tributary, although larger diameter nets can still be used in lakes.

• 2 a.m. is the cutoff time for smelt dipping.

• Recreational anglers can keep five dozen smelt alive for personal bait needs; the rest of their daily bag limit must be killed. Commercial dealers can keep their whole 2-quart limit alive for resale.

• Commercial dealers are allowed to use artificial light to attract smelt, but food particles can’t be used.

• Commercial smelt dealers are allowed to dip 2 quarts of smelt during the spring dipping season, during which 8-quart harvests are no longer allowed.

• Commercial dealers must use a commercially-manufactured grader with a minimum grader spacing of 14/64ths of an inch and, the grader must allow smelts to pass through at least two sides and the bottom of the grader. Previously, according to the report, the law only applied to drop-netting, but now includes commercial harvest by dip-nets and hook-and-line.

• Commercial smelt dealers must annually report their fishing and catch information to the department’s regional office in Gray by May 31.

The laws are part of the state’s 2001 through 2016 smelt management plan. It was designed to maintain existing smelt habitat quantity and, increase smelt abundance and availability where feasible to moderate current demands as a forage fish, sport fish, and as a commercial baitfish.

Managing the state’s smelt populations is a fine line to walk and, not everyone is happy, Pellerin said.

“Despite their relatively small size and low profile, rainbow smelt are of great importance to anglers and fisheries statewide,” he stated in a recent report on proposed changes.

Smelt, he said, are the only inland fish species to provide a variety of uses and benefits, including, recreational sport fishing opportunities, a commercial bait fishery, a favored bait for anglers pursuing other sport fish, a popular food fish and a primary forage fish, especially for landlocked salmon and lake trout.

“These same attributes contribute to the complexity of smelt management, because demands from various user groups are often in conflict with one another, particularly when resources are limited,” Pellerin said.

That’s why the department manages smelt primarily for forage, followed secondly for recreational opportunities, then, commercially.