Maine's State Endangered Redfin Pickerel Proposed for Statewide No-Fishing/Harvest Rule
A rare-to-Maine redfin pickerel. (Jeff Moore)
“This proposal would clarify that fishes listed by the State as
Endangered or Threatened are prohibited from harvest.”
While researching state-sanctioned nonnative bass tournaments in Maine’s salmonid-rich North Zone, a story for another day, NFC stumbled on the fact that state-endangered redfin pickerel were virtually unprotected from an angling standpoint. With no specific listing in the Statewide General Fishing Laws, the default is no bag or length limit.
NFC Executive Director Bob Mallard wrote back-to-back articles in the Bangor Daily news outlining what we found and why it should be addresses. The first article stated the facts as they were at the time, as well as some background, and history as to how we got where we were. The second article answered some specific questions and outlined a path forward.
After NFC met with Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to items of concern, we left feeling as though the redfin pickerel issue was dead in the water, and that MDIFW did not agree with our findings and/or our interpretation of Maine’s Endanger Species Act (MESA) and what was required of them/us under the law.
Several weeks later we were surprised and pleased to see the following included in the MDIFW Fishing Regulation Proposals For the 2024 fishing season package. This shows once again that there are times when while the initial response from the powers that be is not what you want to hear, things sometimes work out anyway:
