AUGUSTA — A first-ever televised gubernatorial debate on hunting, fishing and other outdoor issues that aired statewide late Saturday afternoon on the Time Warner cable channel “went really well,” George Smith said.

On their outdoor-issues’ televised show, “Wildfire,” Smith, the former executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, and Harry Vanderweide, editor of The Maine Sportsman, asked five of Maine’s gubernatorial candidates their views on restoring Maine as a world-class fishing destination, restoring northern Maine’s deer herd, public use of private land and more.

What they got was a candid, unscripted and free-wheeling conversation uninterrupted by advertisements, albeit that they had to frequently interrupt to stay on topic.

The 60-minute debate was held on Oct. 1 at SAM’s headquarters in Augusta. It will be televised again from 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 19, and from 9 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21, on Time Warner channels statewide.

It will also be available online soon at www.wildfiremaine.tv.

Viewers tuning in will initially see Vanderweide ask independents Kevin Scott, Shawn Moody and Eliot Cutler, Republican Paul LePage and Democrat Libby Mitchell the one most important thing they’d do as governor for Maine’s sportsmen.

Moody and Scott said it would involve getting more land access.

Mitchell said she would get “a very good commissioner,” who is responsive and in touch with sportsmen.

Cutler said Maine must change its way of doing business, “because there are too many sportsmen who are underemployed and unemployed.”

LePage echoed Mitchell.

“I think it’s all about getting our fiscal house in order first,” LePage said. “It’s not just the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. In order to get our house in order, we need to find some really good people at the top, so I think finding a good commissioner and people for other departments is all critical.”

Changing topic midstream, Smith focused attention on restoring Maine as a world-class fishing destination.

He said Maine has lost 40,000 anglers since the peak year of 1990, including 30 percent of the populace who used to fish here. He then asked what they’d do to reverse that.

Moody said he would continue to promote the state’s fish hatcheries and place big fish in lakes and ponds to entice people back.

Scott wants to do a thorough analysis on managing and marketing Maine’s resources before moving forward with a plan, while Cutler sought habitat support in curbing the practice of “bucket biology” by people introducing invasive species into Maine waters, thereby decimating its natural species like brook trout and landlocked salmon.

Vanderweide asked how this practice could be stopped. Cutler said to simply hire more wardens to ensure active enforcement.

“If you’re serious about what you’re saying, we can put the regulations in place and we can turn this thing around,” LePage said.

Mitchell said Maine needs to invest in its IF&W department, which “has been sorely underfunded.”

Scott offered a funding solution, which drew one of the larger uneasy laughs from the group and Smith and Vanderweide.

“It just takes a wee bit of vision to understand that $2.4 billion collectively coming into the outdoor sports of Maine is worth fighting for and worth standing up to,” Scott said.

“And if you need to find $12 million in that budget, start with the governor’s office alone. I mean, his office alone is $12.5 million, and we need to find $12 million.”

LePage said his top three priorities — forestry, farming and fishing — “are our natural resources, and we have to bring them up on top of the list, and we have to stop being adversarial to business initiatives in the state of Maine.”

“It’s time we start looking and listening to the people,” he said.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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