Most Maine fisheries biologists concede that there is a social/political dimension to managing sport fish. They often walk a fine line between doing what they think is right and trying to please sport fishermen. Managing the ever-popular landlocked salmon, for example, is tricky business. Everything is not always as it seems. In trying to please anglers, sometimes fisheries biologists make managment decisions that have unintended consequences. Sportsmen sometimes need to be careful about what they ask for. Greenville fisheries biologist Tim Obrey filed the following report recently. It really drives the point home. I relinquish the rest of my column space to Tim. He is responding to a request to increase the legal length of salmon to 16 inches on Moosehead Lake.

Chesuncook Lake had one of the best wild landlocked salmon fisheries in the State in the 1970s and 1980s. Salmon growth was excellent due to the abundant smelt population which serves as the primary food source. Salmon survival to older ages was also good with many large salmon reported in both the summer and winter catch. We conducted a creel survey during the summer months at Chesuncook Lake in 1986. Catch rates were good and the average salmon was just over 18 inches. Fishing was truly outstanding. But soon after there was a slip in the quality of the summer fishing. Our data indicated that too many fish were being harvested in the winter. Winter use was less than half of the total annual use, but those anglers were taking 60-75% of the total annual harvest. There was widespread support for a one-fish salmon limit and increasing the minimum length limit to 16 inches to protect the quality fishery. That rule went into effect in 1992.

By 1998, the change in regulation and drop in winter use resulted in a dramatic increase in the salmon population. We were now holding too many predators and the once abundant smelt population was on the ropes. Growth rates for salmon plummeted. In 1986 an age 4 salmon averaged 17.5 inches but in 1998 that same age fish was just 15.1 inches and lean. Emergency regulations were implemented to thin the burgeoning salmon population, but even now, 13 years later we have still not fully recovered. The same lessons were learned at First Roach Pond where hatchery salmon were growing and surviving well until a 1 fish/16-inch limit was applied. Again, growth slowed and survival decreased. We had to drastically reduce the stocking rate and still have not recovered.

A 16-inch length limit may initially seem appealing to anglers, after all higher length limits equates to bigger fish, right? Well no, not necessarily. The conditions must be right to grow big fish. As biologists, we have the ability to look at data collected over long periods of time from similar waters with similar regulations and learn from past experience. We have learned from these cases that in order to grow big salmon, we must have an abundant smelt population to start with and then maintain it. Recently, our management on Moosehead Lake has focused on removing predators, primarily lake trout, to help the smelt population rebound. Increasing the size limit on salmon to 16 inches in the summer would work against this effort at a time when there is an inadequate food supply. Smelt are not abundant at Moosehead Lake and haven’t been for a number of years. While we have seen signs of improvement in the smelt population, we are still walking a fine line. We also have abundant lake trout population that is applying heavy pressure on the forage (smelt) base. This is something Chesuncook Lake did not have and still the smelt population crashed.

In the 1990s there was great concern among the recreational anglers and sporting camp owners that we had lost our spring salmon fishing on Moosehead Lake. The current regulations on Moosehead Lake were designed to redistribute the salmon catch to restore the traditional spring salmon fishery. These regulations have been effective. We now have good salmon fishing in the spring and season-long salmon fishing in the East Outlet and the Moose Rivers. We are exceeding our catch-rate objectives on both of these rivers as well as the September fishery on the Roach River. Overall, salmon fishing is good on Moosehead Lake under the current regulations. A 16-inch length limit in both the summer and winter on Moosehead would result in many more salmon harvested in the winter, thereby reducing the number left for the summer anglers in the lake and rivers. It would also result in holding more salmon through the summer growing season, putting more pressure on an already fragile smelt population jeopardizing the small gains we have documented over the past few years. We would likely have to respond by slashing the salmon stocking on Moosehead Lake, just as we did at First Roach Pond.

We have a good management plan for the Moosehead Lake. We need to stick to the plan until we reach our prescribed objectives which are based on over 30 years of data collection and input from the Moosehead Lake Focus Group. The members of this advisory group are local anglers that know and care for the resource. We are seeing steady progress in size quality and catch rates, but it takes time. We can consider other options to further improve the fishing at Moosehead Lake when we reach our objectives, and we are certain there is an adequate food supply.

Interesting, huh?

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His email address is [email protected] and his new book is “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook.”