OUTDOORS IN MAINE by V. Paul Reynolds: Fishing can be complicated

By V. Paul Reynolds

Managing Maine’s incredible sport fishery — and its associated regulations — is complex and always subject to second guessing by arm-chair fisheries “biologists,” who may sincerely believe they know how better to manage the fish in their favorite angling waters.
Dennis Smith of Otter Creek is one of those impassioned anglers who never tires of trying to impose his preferences upon the fisheries management decisions made by the professional state fisheries biologists.

Smith’s latest personal initiative is to use the democratic process to force the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to profoundly reduce the salmon take at Branch, Green and Phillips lakes in Hancock County by adding slot limits to the fishing regulations on these waters.
Currently, on these lakes, two salmon 14 inches or longer, may be taken. Under Smith’s proposal, all salmon between 18 and 22 inches would have to be released. Only one fish over 22 inches could be kept.
A public hearing on Smith’s proposal was scheduled for Feb. 6 in Ellsworth. MDIF&W officials were to entertain public input; the commissioner, in concert with the Fish and Wildlife Advisory Council, will vote to adopt or reject Smith’s idea.
Is this a good idea? Maine’s state fisheries director, Francis Brautigam, believes it is not. He points out salmon management is a balancing act, and once you use slot limits to spike the salmon numbers in a water, there will be a corresponding compromise of the smelt numbers — the salmon’s main forage base. Smith’s proposal, Brautigam says, is “high risk fisheries management” setting up for failure. In fact, for this reason, there are only a few Maine lakes where slot limits are currently used in regulating the salmon fishery. According to Downeast fisheries biologist Greg Burr, slot limits on salmon have rarely proven to produce positive results.
Of course, Smith, or any other citizen angler, for that matter, has a right to his point of view and to push a personal agenda using the democratic process –the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Smith circulated a petition and was able to gather sufficient signatures that, in effect, required MDIF&W to give serious consideration to a fishing regulation rule change. Smith gets high marks for his tenacity. However, his repeated attempts to markedly change state fishing regulations demonstrate apparent lack of trust in the management policies made by the state’s professional fisheries biologists. Indirectly, he is also dismissing the majority of anglers who are not big fans of slot limits, especially on landlocked salmon.
It seems doubtful the Fish and Wildlife Advisory Council will approve Smith’s proposed regulation change. If past is prologue, Smith — undaunted — will keep on trying to do what he believes is right. All of this is a reminder that the democratic process can be messy, costly and energy-consuming. The APA process is there for anyone wanting to steer MDIF&W in a certain regulatory direction, but too often it squanders public money and resources better spent on stocking programs and other important fisheries management programs.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine guide and host of a weekly radio program, “Maine Outdoors,” heard at 7 p.m. Sundays on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network. He has authored three books; online purchase information is available at www.maineoutdoorpublications.com._