Town of Phippsburg 2012 Annual Report

100
2012 ANNUAL REPORT
lation decline along the Atlantic coast states south of Maine. It should be noted that 52 of the 5-
7 year olds had returned to spawn 2-4 times, depending on their ages.
I talked with DMR to get their opinion(s) and interpretation(s) of the scale analysis. They
seemed encouraged with our results, not only by the numbers of fish we caught, but also by the
numbers of older fish and repeat spawners yielded by the study. I also asked about the possibility
of Phippsburg being allowed to catch and take alewives one day per week this coming
spring during the regular alewife harvesting season. DMR Commissioner Keliher said that
whatever the Town might propose had to be justified as experimental research.
Following this, our committee, which had been restored to its original Town Meeting established
5 members with the addition of Ethan Debery and Jim Totman, voted to have the chairman
draft a letter to the DMR Commissioner requesting that Phippsburg be allowed to catch
and take alewives one day per week during this coming spring run on an experimental research
basis. By so doing the Town would be able to get a total sample fish count for that day, collect
the required number of scale samples, determine more accurately the duration of the run, and, if
requested by DMR, determine the sex of the fish taken (which requires them to be cut open).
Unfortunately, DMR Commissioner Keliher, in his letter of 11 March, 2013, denied this request,
which put the Town “back to square one” (2006, or worse). His rationale was that the
Town had not proven Center Pond’s alewife sustainability (CPAC had responsibly decided, because
of the ‘runback issue’, to terminate its research harvesting after 14 days of fishing, with
the consent but no warning from DMR, which produced over 8,500 alewives, and because
DMR uses the then unknown “proof of sustainability” formula of 235 returning alewives per
surface acre {X 75 acres of Center Pond = 17,625 fish}, the Town could only prove approximately
½ of the sustainability requirement). So much for the bureaucratic extrapolation ability!
Additionally, there is apparently a new “rule” that if a municipality has been stocked with alewives
within the past three years (which the Center Pond has), there can be no harvesting of
fish for the ensuing three years. As of this writing, DMR has turned the legality of this question
over to the Maine Attorney General’s Office for interpretation.
DMR stocked Center Pond again this year, but this time with almost 1500 fish, compared
with the approximate 500 in the preceding years. This was the result of the chairman’s repeated
requests for more adequate stocking(s). While an improvement over previous stockings, it is
the opinion of many that the existing unscientific “rule” of 5 stocked fish per acre (Center Pond
is approximately 75 acres) is woefully inadequate, and not based on any real scientific research.
Because of this stocking/harvesting issue, CPAC has, pending resolution of the above, decided
to temporarily decline any further stocking of Center Pond.
Now, CPAC again intends to request DMR Commissioner Keliher’s approval for yet another
“experimental alewife fishing year”. If approved as we have requested, the Town should be
able to fish-take count-scale samples-and release into the pond, using the same technique as last
year, except only following the harvesting schedule at Winnegance. On the remaining days the
fish way will be left open to accommodate the “runbacks” return to the Kennebec, but visual
counts of returning alewives will be accomplished for a total run count.
Additionally, because the existing baffles in the fish ladder were deteriorating, the committee
authorized the construction of new ones. They were put in place in January so that they
would “soak up’ and lose their “new lumber” color and smell as much as possible before the
spring run. Also the north railing on the pond side of the granite steps leading into the pond
was repaired. This was accomplished by welding a bracket to the upper stanchion and bolting it
to the riser of the top step. For whatever reason, this railing has had to be repeatedly rean-