FARMINGTON — The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has come up with proposed fishing regulation changes for 2016 that are too restrictive, several people said at a public hearing Tuesday.

John Thomas of Turner said he was at Cold Stream Pond recently with another resident on Father’s Day weekend and they only saw one pickup truck there.

“Every place that I have seen where they have strongly restricted the taking of fish, there’s nobody there,” he said. “The laws are counterproductive. You want bigger fish? You’ve got to thin them out, keep them thinned out.”

According to DIFW officials at the meeting, regulation changes are needed to enhance fishing opportunities throughout the state, as well as to protect fish from overfishing. This year, more than 150 regulation changes are proposed for Maine’s 6,000 lakes and ponds and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams.

Wilton resident Bruce Dyke asked how the smelt population was holding up in Parker Pond in Fayette. Fisheries biologist Jason Seiders responded that there are very few smelts in the pond and that the DIFW is trying to increase smelt habitat.

“If you want to increase the harvest, why do you have a one-fish limit?” asked Gary Corson of New Sharon.

It is a small pond, Seiders said, and change will happen fast.

“We’re just being conservative,” he said.

Rufus Cox of New Sharon said people were still drop-netting smelts, which shouldn’t be done. He asked about the limit on smelts in Sandy River Pond in Sandy River Plantation.

“How many will it take before the population is depleted?” he asked.

Region D Fisheries Biologist Bobby Van Riper said the DIFW is looking to increase fishing opportunities for children with their families. For example, he said, new regulations would have Harvey Pond in Madrid open to ice-fishing for anglers under 16 years of age, with a restriction of two lines per person and a daily bag limit of two trout. Currently, no ice-fishing is allowed there.

Mount Blue Pond in Avon, which is currently closed to ice-fishing, would be open to ice-fishing and open-water fishing from Jan. 1 to March 31, another example of increased fishing access, Van Riper said.

“We came up with a bunch of proposals that were relatively consistent across the board,” he said. “We liberalized them a little bit, not a lot.”

Cox worried that if people weren’t allowed to take fish of a certain size from water bodies, they would start trolling for them. He said he wanted to see more incentives to get people out fishing.

Van Riper said that he sympathized with this view, but cautioned that any changes must be done using biological data.

“I can’t just sit there and say, ‘I have a good idea; let’s change it,'” he said. “This is government. We have to follow certain rules.”

Dyke said, “I think you guys do a good job, but do we have as many fly-fishermen as we used to? A lot of the fly-fishing shops have dried right up.”

DIFW Commissioner Chandler Woodcock responded that licenses were holding their own, but the types of fishermen that are out there are different from what they used to be.

Corson said he was opposed to restricting several of the proposed ponds in remote areas to anglers age 16 and under.

“I believe kids-only waters should be where kids can get to them either on foot or on bicycle,” he said.

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Sample of proposed fishing regulations:

Androscoggin County:

Livermore Falls to Brunswick, Androscoggin River: Current regulations allow ice-fishing from Dec. 1 to April 30. Proposal would allow ice-fishing as soon as ice forms.

Poland (Otisfield, Oxford, Casco), Thompson Lake: Current regulations restrict daytime ice-fishing to two lines per person. Proposal lifts that restriction, but only in Oxford County. The purpose of the change is to increase the lake trout harvest by allowing five lines during the winter fishing season.

Turner, Pleasant Pond: Current regulations restrict the daily bag limit on trout to two fish; minimum length limit is 10 inches, and only one may exceed 12 inches. Proposal would require all trout, landlocked salmon and togue to be released “alive at once” between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31. The purpose of the change is to provide additional protection for landlocked salmon during the late-season fishery and to eliminate late open-season harvest of catchable brook trout.

Franklin County:

Avon, Mount Blue Pond: Currently closed to ice-fishing. Proposal would permit ice-fishing and open-water fishing from Jan. 1 to March 31. The purpose of the change is to create new ice-fishing opportunities.

Industry, Mill Pond on Muddy Brook: Current regulations permit fishing for anglers younger than 16 or those holding eligible complimentary fishing licenses. Proposal would restrict fishing to anglers under 16. Daily bag limit on trout would remain at two fish. The purpose of the change is to clarify fishing is for youths only.

Jim Pond Township, Little Jim Pond: Current regulations permit a daily bag limit of one trout; minimum length is 18 inches. Proposal would lower the minimum length to 14 inches. The purpose of the change is to allow increased harvest in the stocked pond.

Madrid, Beal Pond: Current regulations allow a daily bag limit of two trout; minimum length is 10 inches; only one may exceed 12 inches. The proposal would change the minimum length limit to 12 inches and only one fish may exceed 14 inches. The purpose of the change is to provide additional protection for a stocked fishery that has demonstrated good growth.

Madrid, Harvey Pond: Current regulations ban ice-fishing. Proposal would open the pond to ice-fishing for anglers under 16 years; restricted to two lines per person, daily bag limit is two trout. The purpose of the change is to create new ice-fishing opportunities for youths.

Oxford County:

Norway, Pennesseewassee Lake Outlet: Fishing is currently permitted from the dam at Main Street downstream to the dam at Route 26 and is restricted to anglers under 16 years old in April and May. Proposal would allow fishing from the upstream side of Main Street at the Route 117 bridge to the dam at Route 26, and permit youth fishing through June 15. The purpose of the change is to increase the youth fishing area and extend the youth fishing season.

Sumner, Abbott Pond: Current regulations allow a two-fish bag limit; fish must be a minimum of 10 inches and only one over 12 inches. Proposal would require trout shorter than 6 inches and longer than 12 inches to be released “alive at once.” Purpose of the change is to develop a fishery for large brook trout.

Waterford, Bear Pond: Current regulations close the taking of smelts from midnight to noon each day from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Proposal would lift the time restriction.

Woodstock, Bryant Pond (Lake Christopher): Current regulations do not address bass fishing. Proposal lifts all size and bag limits on bass. The purpose of the change is to liberalize bass regulations in response to illegal introduction of bass.

For the full text of the proposed regional fishing regulations, go tohttp://www.maine.gov/ifw/