Whither Maine Char?

Witness the caterwauling that followed listing of America’s wild Atlantic salmon. Maine’s then-governor, Angus King, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit and proclaimed that the feds had “betrayed” his state and were “trifling with people’s lives.” Property-rights guru Jonathan Reisman, an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Maine-Machias, circulated a statement accusing the Feds of “sodomizing” his state. The aquaculture industry, the forest-products industry, the blueberry industry and just about every politician in Maine warned that the listing would bankrupt the state.

None of the ruination prognosticated by Maine’s ESA bashers has occurred. And, while the fate of the nation’s last wild Atlantic salmon remains in doubt, at least they now have a fighting chance.

ESA listing for Maine Arctic char would unleash a torrent of federal money that would allow prompt reclamation of Big Reed, Wadleigh and any other ponds that are, or might become, infected with smelt or other alien fish. It would end pollution of Green Lake with hatchery lake trout and keep hatchery brook trout out of Bald Mountain Pond. It would protect watersheds from rash development and predatory logging. It would provide better enforcement and subject bucket biologists to major criminal penalties. Finally, while threatened classification would allow continued char angling, it would mandate the no-kill regs that should have been in place all along.

A respected, politically influential organization needs to step up fast and petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for threatened status for America’s last sub-Alaska Arctic char. That would be Trout Unlimited.

Ted Williams has written about conservation for Fly Rod & Reel magazine for more than 20 years. Follow his blog at flyrodreel.com.