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blacktrap You must be a commercial logger or connected to one.
It's great That we can all put in our 2% worth. Are clam shell getting more Brittle???
Poor fisheries management and increased angler pressure equals poor fishing all around. This is what I have observed over the last couple years. The future looks dismal unless something drastic happens.
https://www.lakesofmaine.org/lake-chemistry.html?m=5786And once you search around and find the pH page, that can be swiped, and plotted in excel. Of course remember the higher numbers are "less" acidic, and 7 is neutral. So... the Ph of Sebago over the years:"Ya but what was it historically? The whitefish were gone or just about gone by the 70s!" - Yeah, you are right. I don't know what the pH was in historical times. I don't know what it was in the 50s and 60s. I'm not speculating to those, just presenting some hard data that is easy to find and publicly available. "Ya but thats not what it's doing on my lake!" - Yeah, you are probably right. This is one lake. Down East Maine is certainly a lot more acidic and suffering more lingering effects of forestry and acid rain. I'm not trying to say acidity is not the problem ANYWHERE, But I am saying its probably not the problem EVERYWHERE.
What happened in Sebago to White fish in Sebago in two years later the same thing happened to Moosehead lake, then a couple of years later Chesuncook Caribou Lake started to loose their White fish, There was a lot of talk about the acid fallout from our southern states at that time.in the Northern areas weather frontals start to swing east and lakes north of Chesuncook seem to not be affected as much. so lets not Blame Togue as cause for fish loss in Sebago. All other lakes in Northern Lakes Had Togue and Salmon in them for ever and they are having same problem.
Another way to look at the proper way to take care of our woodlands. Compare all land to Farmland, Farmers know it is necessary to fertilize and lime the soil to make it necessary for crops to grow over fertilize or under Lime to keep PH at proper level will create a poor crow. What do loggers do to keep land Healthy?? Allowing excessive tree cutting has damaged our lakes streams and the ocean. Now everyone wants to blame wrong species of fish or over harvesting of fish.
Moosekill Dream on!!!!!!!!!
Trying to speculate or solve why whitefish disappeared from various lakes isnt going to bring them back. The water quality of all those lakes is good enough to support whitefish. If people want them back again the only way that will happen is to somehow have a seriously well funded stocking program. It isnt rocket science, Ontario does it, Just going to take alot of money and resolve to do it.
I have discussed whitefish with the biologists who study them. Biggest problem is the smelts.
Why do you suppose they stopped dipping smelts in the spring everywhere???