Fishing, Water Regulation, and Competition: The Past, Present, and Future of Brook Trout in the Rapid River, Maine

• Main Author: Jackson, Casey Alannah Leialoha
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@UMaine 2009
• Subjects: Brook trout; Salvelinus fontinalis; Fishing; Fresh Water Fisheries; Maine; Aquaculture and Fisheries; Natural Resources and Conservation; Natural Resources Management and Policy; Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology; Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/1534; https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/etd/article/2563/viewcontent/JacksonC2009.pdf

The Rapid River, located in western Maine, has been renowned as a premiere native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) fishery in the eastern United States since European settlement in the late 1800s. Since this time the Rapid River fishery has declined due to numerous anthropogenic effects. Increasing concerns about management and preservation of this brook trout population prompted my research of the history of the fishery in the Rangeley Lakes region (Chapter 1), the effects that the introduction of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) may have on the Rapid River brook trout population (Chapter 2), and finally, the effects that heavy fishing pressure may have on the Rapid River brook trout fishery (Chapter 3). Currently, the greatest threat to the Rapid River brook trout population is speculated to be competition with and predation by introduced smallmouth bass. Over the last 150 years, however, brook trout populations in the Rangeley Lakes region have been exposed to numerous stressors (e.g. over harvest, heavy fishing pressure, multiple introductions of non-native fish species, and habitat degradation from logging activities) that have contributed to their decline. Additionally, the Rapid River brook trout population may also be influenced by more regional (e.g. acid rain) and global (e.g. climate change) environmental conditions, both of which are predicted to intensify in the future. Summer movement patterns and spatial overlap of native sub-adult brook trout, non-native landlocked Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and non-native smallmouth bass in the Rapid River were investigated with radio telemetry in 2005 to assess the potential of competitive interactions between these three species. Fish were captured by angling, surgically implanted with a radio transmitter, and tracked actively from June through September. Most brook trout (96%) and landlocked salmon (72%) displayed long distance movements (>1 km) to open water bodies (28 June to 4 July), followed by periods of time spent in presumed thermal ...