Monthlong Atlantic Salmon Fishing Season Opened In Maine: Are There Even Enough For Catch & Release?
By Tom Chandler on Mar 9, 2008 in Environment, News
From the Bangor Daily News:
A roughly 4-mile stretch of the Penobscot near Bangor will be open to catch-and-release Atlantic salmon fishing annually from May 1 to May 31 under new rules approved Thursday. This spring’s opening day will mark the first time springtime fishing for sea-run salmon has been allowed on any Maine rivers since 1999.
The regulations limit each fly fisherman to ONE salmon a day (catch him, let him go, go home), and the whole season will end once 50 Atlantic Salmon have been caught and released.
It’s tempting to look on this as a success story, but deeper research suggests this is more a gesture of defiance than an omen of success.
Only 920 Atlantic Salmon actually returned to the Penboscot in 2007, and some organizations were so divided on the issue of a fishing season that they didn’t weigh in on the regulation change one way or the other.
Frankly, it’s hard to say which way I’d go on this one. 920 fish is damned few, yet perhaps a short C&R season would help drum up the political will necessary to make more.
Undergrounders?
You can read the whole story here: Maine OKs catch-release salmon season this May
Technorati Tags: penobscot,fly fishing,fishing,atlantic salmon,fishing regulations,catch and release
El Pescador | Mar 10, 2008 | Reply
I think a good question to ask is - Were these 900+ salmon that were counted in 2007 wild fish? There are biologists who suggest that most of them were hatchery born. If that is the case then what is being protected? I’ve heard that 700 pair of naturally spawning wild strain salmon (minimum) is required to keep the gene pool alive. Does that exist?
Ultimately I think the press over the issue is good and that attention is drawn to the goal which is restoring Atlantic salmon species where they once thrived. Maine and a diverse group of supporters remain hopeful that it can be done in the Penobscot. Efforts continue.
Tom Chandler | Mar 10, 2008 | Reply
Ultimately, the minimal season probably will be beneficial, though I admit to a certain amazement; even though the Penobscot Atlantic salmon run has fallen from a bazillion to less than a thousand, the Feds still haven’t listed it as endangered.
Endangered? Hell, it sounds like it’s pretty much gone.