The landlocked salmon is Maine’s official State Fish. It’s interesting that a species that is more likely to be nonnative than native when it is encountered is our state fish. You would think it would be brook trout, our most popular and widely distributed wild native gamefish.
Landlocked salmon are a form of Atlantic salmon. They are virtually indistinguishable aesthetically and genetically from their sea-run cousins. Landlocked salmon are the most trout-like species of salmon, occupying the same kind of habitats as trout and demonstrating many of the same traits, including foraging preferences.
While Arctic charr are considered by most to be Maine’s rarest native freshwater salmonid, landlocked salmon are actually rarer. They are eclipsed only by endangered sea-run Atlantic salmon. Landlocked salmon were native to just four watersheds in Maine: Green, Sebago, Sebec and West Grand Lakes. Arctic charr were native to 19 waters, and can still be found in 12.
Sebago Lake is home to the namesake population of landlocked salmon, Salmo salar sebago. These fish served as broodstock for many landlocked salmon introduced elsewhere. Interestingly, due to historic and ongoing stocking in Maine, it is possible that the only genetically pure and diverse Sebago-strain landlocked salmon left are outside Maine, and possibly outside the United States.
Sebago Lake has been stocked annually with landlocked salmon since 1938, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Records prior to 1979 do not indicate what strain was used, but from 1979 through 1980, the lake was stocked with 32,500 West Grand Lake salmon, potentially altering the genetics of the native fish. From 1981 on, the lake has been stocked with so-called “Sebago Strain” fish.
It is unclear why DIF&W started stocking landlocked salmon in Sebago Lake, but it was likely they were responding to complaints about poor fishing due to angler exploitation. This resulted in calls for more fish, and rather than protect what was there, they took the easy way out and supplemented the wild native population with hatchery-reared fish. Now it is a habit.
The Casco State Fish Hatchery was established in 1954. In addition to other species of trout, DIF&W raises landlocked salmon using eggs stripped from fish captured in the Jordan River that are returning from Sebago Lake to spawn. These fish purportedly originated from Sebago Lake broodstock.
Between 1945 and 1948, DIF&W stocked roughly 245,000 brown trout in Sebago Lake. While not a robust fishery, according to DIF&W data, brown trout are still “present” in the lake.
In 1972, DIF&W introduced nonnative lake trout to Sebago Lake. Between 1972 and 1982, more than 315,000 lake trout were stocked, resulting in a self-sustaining population of nonnative fish that compete with the native landlocked salmon. As the state-sponsored introduction of nonnative fish has done elsewhere, this forever changed the lake.
Nonnative smallmouth bass were first confirmed in Sebago Lake in 193, according to DIF&W. While often referred to as an illegal introduction, per DIF&W, 52 “BSS” — an obsolete species code previously used to denote “bass” — were stocked in Sebago Lake in 1937.
By the early 1960s, nonnative largemouth bass had been introduced to Sebago Lake, likely by selfish anglers. In 2003, DIF&W confirmed the presence of nonnative pike, a species that could potentially disrupt the entire ecosystem.
In an attempt to control the nonnative lake trout population, DIF&W is encouraging harvest, including imposing “no bag limit” and “no minimum length limit” regulations. Anglers may only harvest one lake trout greater than 26 inches, which protects what are arguably the fish we most need to get rid of — large predatory fish with superior survival traits.
As a South Zone water, nonnative bass are managed under a two-fish daily limit on Sebago Lake, the same as native landlocked salmon. Bass more than 14-inches are protected by a regulation that allows anglers to only harvest one fish, which is more protection than we provide native landlocked salmon.
Landlocked salmon in Sebago Lake are managed under a two-fish, 16-inch minimum length limit, the latter of which is only 2 inches higher than the least protected lake and pond landlocked salmon in the state. If salmon are in such trouble that we need to stock them, wouldn’t decreasing the daily limit, or going catch-and-release, and increasing the length limit be prudent?
Stocking landlocked salmon in Sebago Lake raises some serious questions. While the stocked fish may be “Sebago strain,” there are other things to consider such as genetic diversity, spawning disruption, and the potential of introducing hatchery-borne diseases, parasites, and viruses, and non-target species. Is this really worth the risks?
There is a study being undertaken by DIF&W and Sebago Trout Unlimited to ascertain the level of genetic introgression between hatchery fish and wild native salmon in Sebago Lake. While the lake has been stocked for decades, without genetic data we can only guess as to the impact.
Stocked salmon are likely imprinted to Jordan River, not the Crooked River, the primary spawning tributary for the lake’s wild native salmon. If what we know about fish holds true, only a small portion of stocked fish would end up in the Crooked River during spawning. As domesticated fish, it’s possible that successful interbreeding with wild native fish may be limited.
The story of Sebago Lake is still being written. The genetic study will tell us a lot about what has happened to these legendary gamefish, Maine’s official state fish, and the species namesake population. Regardless of their genetic pedigree, salmon belong in Sebago Lake, and we need to do everything we can to help preserve them.
It’s time to suspend salmon stocking, provide absolute protection to salmon, and stop protecting nonnative lake trout and bass.