BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2023
Maine is the only place Arctic charr can still be found in the contiguous 48 states. Rare, native Arctic charr are collapsing in Bald Mountain Pond under the weight of nonnative smelt and lake trout introductions. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife proposes to move the Bald Mountain Pond charr to a surrogate water. Maine has attempted to introduce Arctic charr to roughly 15 waters. Thirteen of these attempts failed, and one has been marginally successful at best. Neighboring New Hampshire hasn’t fared any better, failing in 15 of 15 introductions. Would it not be less risky and disruptive to use stocked waters as surrogates rather than State Heritage Fish waters? We cannot solve the problem of fish being moved around by moving fish around. We need to stop doing that which has got us in trouble in the past, as nonnative fish are nonnative fish, no matter who puts them there or why. ~ Bob Mallard