All indicators seem to point to a banner season for ice fishing in the state of Maine this winter.  In fact, with the exception of some waters, ice fishing in the state seems to have been improving steadily over the past few years.  Improvements like this certainly didn’t happen by accident. 

I’m confident that the quality fishing we’re seeing today is the result of a smart investment made by people in the state of Maine, and further investment in our fishery resources could result in far better fisheries than we see today.

In 2002, the people of the state of Maine voted by a hefty margin to pass a $7 million bond issue to improve and revamp the aging infrastructure of the state’s fish hatcheries.  As a result, many more fish are stocked, and are stocked at a larger size in Maine waters today than any time in the recent past. 

I was working as a creel census clerk for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife during the years that the bond issue results began to take effect, and fall yearling brook trout were stocked for the first time on a local lake that supports a popular fishery for salmon and lake trout.  The new fall yearling experiment proved extremely successful, and the number of people we documented fishing for trout on the lake increased astronomically.  Such increases weren’t limited to local lakes, however, and new stocking practices have resulted in much better fishing conditions statewide.  

Investment in our fishery resources should not be limited only to fish production and stocking.  Much of Maine’s fisheries are driven by wild and native fish populations, which are very difficult to manage with the limited staff within the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Fishery Division.  Maine employs somewhere around 30 fisheries biologists statewide, less than 10% of the fisheries staff in states like Minnesota.  Investing in the hiring of more fisheries biologists and field sampling equipment would allow Maine’s fisheries resources to be managed such that they provide a much better return to the angler, increase fishing opportunities, and drive more tourism and fishing activity in the state. 

I’ve never been a fan of big government spending.  However, I think there’s a big difference between dumping money into government programs that provide few public benefits, and investing in proper management of our resources that should provide a positive return to the public and bolster the economy.  I may be wrong, but I believe that investing more money in fishery resources would be a wise decision for any state interested in promoting its outdoor resources.       

A great story recently came out of central Oregon, where the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s South Santiam Hatchery donated summer steelhead to a local food bank.  This was without question a great gesture, considering that they weren’t going to do anything else with the fish.

What really gets me, though, is the quote below:

“In past years the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has had more fish return than necessary to produce the next generation of hatchery fish, so the steelhead were surplus.”

 What’s this?  More fish than necessary?  Then what’s all this we hear about low salmon numbers and problems with salmon recovery in Oregon?  Is there a limit to the number of fish the Department can stock?  A limit that forces hatcheries to dispose of fish that are somehow considered surplus?  Somebody help me here…..

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources personell at Springville Fish Hatchery in Springville, Utah, have been forced to kill 60,000 trout after whirling disease has again been discovered in fish housed in the facility.  This is the second time since 2005 that the discovery of the disease has caused the hatchery to shut down. 

All of the Springville fish will be killed, and the hatchery will seek an alternative water supply from a deep underground aquifer before reopening the hatchery.

Whirling disease, which is caused by the parasite Myxobolus cerebralis, was first discovered in Germany and is now spread throughout the United States.  The disease causes skeletal deformation and neurological damage in juvenile fish, and causes high mortality rates to many fish populations, while having lesser effects on others.

Whirling disease can not be spread to humans.  The Utah DWR is shutting down the hatchery to prevent the possible spread of whirling disease to fish populations in the wild.

Salt Lake Tribune Article

Recent flooding in the Midwest hasn’t just impacted homes and businesses.  At a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fish hatchery near Altura, MN, flood waters washed away and killed thousands of juvenile lake trout, which were destined to be stocked in Lake Superior this year.  The trout would have accounted for an estimated 30% of this year’s juvenile lake trout production in the portion of Lake Superior where they were supposed to be stocked.  About 40% of the hatchery’s splake, (a cross between brook trout and lake trout) were lost as well.  No juvenile brook trout were lost, as they had already been stocked earlier this year.

Full story here