NFC Executive Director Bob Mallard Talks Surrogate Waters with Bangor Daily News
A rare Maine Arctic charr. (Bob Mallard)
“How long will the Arctic charr be in their new home before they are no longer Bald Mountain Pond fish? The genetic differences between Maine Arctic charr populations is minimal, and does not warrant subspecies or even strain designation. What we really have is adaptations to specific conditions. Change the conditions and the fish will adapt to them, or not.”
NFC Executive Director Bob Mallard challenges Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife plan to move rare Arctic charr from one water to another to try to save them.
While not an absolute challenge to the general concept, Bob provides information as to what has and hasn’t worked in the past, and why using our uncompromised and legally protected State Heritage Fish waters may not be necessary, or even our best option.
For the record, Bob did not choose the title, the paper did. He prefers not to use words such as "illogical," and let the facts speak for themselves. His title was "Surrogate Waters: Leave our State Heritage Fish Waters Alone"...
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“The rare Arctic charr of Bald Mountain Pond were compromised as a result of moving fish around. Now we want to move them. I don’t believe we can 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.”