Global Warming and fishing regs

[BeadHead]

i believe the time has come to open the dialogue regarding the effect of global warming on the closing dates for fishing on any number of affected rivers and bodies of water. Its common knowledge to many fishermen that fall spawning runs of salmonids is initiated by a combination of flow and temperature. Its the temperature that i'm most concerned with here. My friends and I have been fly fishing all over the State of Maine for over 45 years and we have observed that it seems that September river temperatures (and fall pond temps as well) have slowly crept up over that period. In particular, we now dont take our annual late September trip on the Upper West Branch of the Penobscot due to the higher temps we have encountered over the past five years. It seems that 40 years ago the temperature of the river in late september was much colder providing muich better fishing and this seems to have steadily declined to the point now that the first two weeks of October now would better approximate the conditions we saw 40 years ago. This is purely an observation on my part and I kick myself for not keeping a journal during the past 40 years. I surely would like to see MDIFW evaluate the effect and impact of Climate change and make the appropriate changes to closing dates and/or maybe extending fishing seasons to catch and release on many of Maines storied rivers, ponds and lakes. I think the time has come to take a hard look at this ever increasing concern...

[TightLinesMaine]

I thoroughly share your concerns.  Three consecutive drought-ridden years are taking a toll on the coldwater fisheries, especially in Southern Maine.

[joefishmore]

Nothing you can do about it. People cause the problems and many parts of the world will continue to see huge population growth including the US which growth is coming from massive quantities of immigrants.

[taxid]

The thing we notice in my area is the few lakes that normally holdover trout start to get depleted of oxygen in September because of delayed turnover due to warmer Septembers. I can remember when things started to cool off around Labor Day, but here we are in the upper 80's in mid September today.

[taxid]

Nothing you can do about it. People cause the problems and many parts of the world will continue to see huge population growth including the US which growth is coming from massive quantities of immigrants.

China is shutting down it's coal power plants and is heading for total renewable energy with solar and wind power. We are presently doing the opposite.  It doesn't have to correspond with population growth.

[zwiggles]

This thread is doomed.

Isn’t the OPs point that they should expand the season? Isn’t he asking for the closed season dates to be extended until mid October or later as the current weather pattern doesn’t lend itself towards fishing in late September anymore? I would think this would put more pressure on trout/ salmon when they seem to be in need of more protection, and not less.

Current trends would indicate a lot of areas are indeed getting warmer (NE in particular) with later falls, and less snow/ice than 50 years ago, in general. Our impact on this is a hotly debated topic, and I’m not sure that the OPs intent was to get into a climate science debate. I believe they wanted to talk regs with the changes we all have seen to our seasons, and if there is anything we could do to change them for everyone’s benefit.

To this point I think that for trout/salmon a closed season during the hottest times of summer, and/or the times of drought is something that is worth discussion.

I see a clear benefit on one side for the fish. Ideally they would be able to act fluidly with the regs. ie - they could choose to close rivers/lakes during the summer if conditions called for it to protect the fish. They could also extend a season later into the fall, or open earlier due to ice out, if conditions warranted it.

On the other side I see a potential nightmare for sport outfitters/lodges that depend on the summertime revenue generated by fisherman traveling to their outfits. A lot of people book trips months if not years in advance. It would be awful for conditions to arise that warranted a closure of a fishery which in turn resulted in refunds/cancellations/loss of revenue for the local owner.

I feel flexible regulations would be ideal. Let the Bio’s do there job, and prot ct everyone’s interests. For practical purposes I understand why in reality this is very hard to do.

[woodchip1]

What they want us all to do  like the Salmon, Cod , Smelts  is leave them alone .Quit fishing .  with rod and reel but let draggers continue,

[GasBlaster]

 If there on a fall spawning run then I would think you would want the season closed . Let them do there thing .   It could be that it should of been closed sooner back 30 years ago to keep the fisherman away from the spawning fish and you guys were lucking out by taking advantage early spawners .

[BeadHead]

I think that you (zwiggles) has missed my point here. All that i am asking is that MDIFW biologists assess whether there is a problem of river (and ponds/lakes) temperature rise in the month of September which delays the initiation of spawning runs and make the necessary adjustments to season lenghth. For instance, the East Outlet of the Kennebec river is an example. Regs now allow catch and release in the month of October and, additionally,  from Nov. thru March on the upper 1/2 mile. Talk to anyone fishing on the East Outlet and they will be quick to point out that the quality and quantity of the fish being caught has increased very favorably over the past 3 years. I simply would love to see similar regulations extended to the West Branch of the Penobscot, Kennebago, Magalloway, Grand Lake Stream and any other rivers or bodies of water (Moosehead Lake, for instance) for that matter. I believe also that many fishing guides would also benefit greatly from seasons being extended into October. I dont want this thread to be a discussion of solving the global warming problem, I want it to be a reasonable discussion of the impact on the fishery and whether or not to institute changes in regs to respond to that issue. Thats my 2 cents in a nutshell.

[BeadHead]

If there on a fall spawning run then I would think you would want the season closed . Let them do there thing .   It could be that it should of been closed sooner back 30 years ago to keep the fisherman away from the spawning fish and you guys were lucking out by taking advantage early spawners .

I should like to point out that although they are on their "spawning run", they dont actually spawn until November. What I'm saying is that we would like to fish the initiall beginnings of the run which i am saying doesnt occur now until the end of Sept. when historically it occurred in early Sept. I noticed you are holding a bass... What you are saying is that Salmonid fishermen shouldnt enjoy the early stages of the spawn yet if you were to propose to Bass fishermen that they close May, June and July during the early, actual spawn and late stages of Bass spawn, I'm sure there would be an uproar. Bass fishermen and Salmonid fishermen all practice catch and release without a measurable detrimental effect on spawning, as a matter of fact, despite fishing pressure, bass procreate at alarming rates when introduced to new bodies of water.

[JDK]

While I'll have to think about this some more I don't necessarily disagree with you.  That said, you referenced bass fishing during the spawn and then river fishing for spawning cold water fish.  One of the primary differences I see is wading vs. boating and wonder if a wading fisherman would disturb the redd more so than a floating?  I do not know the answer, just spitballing.

[GasBlaster]

I should like to point out that although they are on their "spawning run", they dont actually spawn until November. What I'm saying is that we would like to fish the initiall beginnings of the run which i am saying doesnt occur now until the end of Sept. when historically it occurred in early Sept. I noticed you are holding a bass... What you are saying is that Salmonid fishermen shouldnt enjoy the early stages of the spawn yet if you were to propose to Bass fishermen that they close May, June and July during the early, actual spawn and late stages of Bass spawn, I'm sure there would be an uproar. Bass fishermen and Salmonid fishermen all practice catch and release without a measurable detrimental effect on spawning, as a matter of fact, despite fishing pressure, bass procreate at alarming rates when introduced to new bodies of water.

Well I'm not just a bass guy . Even so I do not fish bass on there beds.  The state does close down bass tournaments during the spawn .  Like you stated in your last comment the bass are much more successful spawning and the state doesn't need to stock thousands of dollars worth of bass to keep the population up like it does salmon and trout . The old true native salmon and trout need more protection then the bass if you want them around another 40 years from now . I would think you would be in favor of further restrictions on salmonoids to protect them rather then open up a season further into there spawn run . Oh well that's the point I was trying to make . I didn't want it to start a global warming debate or a trout vers bass debate  .    I'm out

[BeadHead]

While I'll have to think about this some more I don't necessarily disagree with you.  That said, you referenced bass fishing during the spawn and then river fishing for spawning cold water fish.  One of the primary differences I see is wading vs. boating and wonder if a wading fisherman would disturb the redd more so than a floating?  I do not know the answer, just spitballing.

The principal month of spawning occurs in November which would not have the adverse effect of wading be a problem for spawning red disturbance.

[Swampking89]

Here in NY, trout season in most streams and lakes used to close Sept. 30th now most are open until Oct. 15.just saying.

[CLAMFARMER]

Yeah, There are streams flowing into The Finger Lakes and Great Lakes I have fished intentionally watching for strong rains to bring up water levels. The salmon and brown trout often run up and spawn timed with that small window of higher water conditions. That window seems to be getting smaller.

It is sad and unfortunate that many who live for fishing and the outdoors are the very ones that deny climate change is happening and that we, particularly those of us in the most powerful and influential country on the planet, can do something about it.

We are now seeing the real effects we could have avoided and still have the ability to mitigate. BUT we WON’T. NICE!