Comment from Roger Wheeler, Friends of Sebago Lake

Formal Comments re: Listing of Atlantic Salmon of the Gulf of Maine as Endangered My name is Roger Wheeler and I live in Fryeburg Maine. I represent the Friends of Sebago Lake. Over the last 18 years we have had a great interest in researching the natural history of Maine’s anadromous fish. Our research was a key factor in the US Supreme Court Case of South African Paper Products International (SAPPI) vs State of Maine where the court unanimously defended the State’s right to mandate fish passage on Maine dams. We do believe that Atlantic Salmon should be declared an endangered species in the Gulf of Maine and that Maine’s former salmon rivers be designated as critical habitat. The success of Anadromous fish restoration in the late 1800’s was faciltated by restoring access of anadromous fish to numerous large inland lakes and rivers for spawning and thus providing protection and food for young fish. Because of instinct, anadromous fish strive to reach the farthest reaches of a watershed as this is also the safest habitat for their spawn. Because they were aware of this, the US Fish Commissioners adamantly professed in their reports, dams with inadequate passage severly harmed the anadromous fish populations. Another significant impact on anadromous fish populations is the severe unnatural flowage regulation of our inland waterways. If fish passage is restored anadromous fish will encounter many lakes, lake wetlands and rivers in their historical range where the unnatural regulation will prevent the successful propagation of their species. In the mid 1970’s the lake interest groups under Congress of Lakes Association (COLA) successfully lobbied the legislature to pass legislation that keeps water levels in Maine lakes constantly high as possible. On Federally controlled lakes boating interests have forced higher lake levels. As a result lake wetlands and littoral areas have been degraded. Lake wetlands are crucial for the lake ecosystem to support anadromous fish. China Lake is a key example where lake wetlands disintergrated when water levels were kept constantly high and no longer support a viable salmon fishery. It is mentioned in scientific literature that when a lake is unnaturally regulated fish assemblages change. The greatest changes occur when lake water levels are kept high and fluctuation is minimized. I am requesting that NOAA help secure funding sources for studies regarding the impacts of unnatural lake regulation on lake wetlands and the relationship of various regulation regimes on lake wetland biota, water quality, and fish assemblages. The most in depth scientific knowledge of unnatural regulation impacts on lake wetland biota are from studies on the Voyageurs Lakes and Lake Ontario. It is worthy to mention that a more lake environmentally friendly regulation plan on Lake Ontario is supported by the Moses Saunders Dam hydropower interest and fishing groups for they understand it is in their best interest to do so. Like Maine however it is the intransigent recreational and boating interests who dictate regulation of surface water flows. Fish passage restoration and lake regulation that mimicks natural seasonal cycles together can rebuild what was once one of the finest anadromous fisheries in the world. By the 1880’s When fish passage was fully restored on the Presumpscot River, Sebago Lake was restored to a world famous salmon fishery. I would like to quote a passage from a May 10, 1886, Boston Globe article where the Maine Fish Commissioner has set up a trapping station on the Crooked River for securing salmon eggs. “Then came a heavy rain and after that, about November 2, a remarkable “run” took place which, considering the size of the stream, exceeds anything of the kind known either to State or the United States commissioners.. In the twenty-four hours ending Wednesday, November 3, no less than sixty-nine salmon, weighing, on an average, sixteen pounds each, came into the trap. One of them, a male, tipped the scale at twenty seven pounds, and in the depth of body and general appearance is unlike any ever seen in Maine waters.” Fish Commissioners reports document that many of the large salmon in Sebago Lake were actually sea salmon The 1800’s success of Atlantic Salmon restoration in Sebago Lake was due to the work of the US and Maine Fish Commissioners to plant salmon fry in the Presumpscot and Sebago waterways and to the regulation of Sebago Lake outlet dam which mimicked the natural seasonal hydrological cycle with interannual variability. Sebago Lake in the 1800’s despite intense watershed land use was a remarkable clean sandy bottom lake with shoals and drowned tributary rivers highly suitable for salmon spawning because of the lake regulation that mimicked the natural water level cycle. In conclusion, I do emphasize the necessity for studying the impacts of unnatural lake level regulation, its effects on lake and riverine wetlands and its impact on successful anadromous fish restoration. Roger Wheeler Friends of Sebago Lake PO Box 561 Fryeburg Maine 04037 email: friendsofsebago@yahoo.com