Invasive Species Wreaking Havoc on Maine’s Whitefish Population by Ella Hopps and Vernon Hooper

Our Class:

LEAP Environmental Policy, a class advised by D Johannesen, wants to bring awareness to the issues aquatic invasive species have on whitefish population. This class is part of the Maine Forest Collaborative, which works with high schools and middle schools across the state to guide students through finding a real life problem in their community, developing a solution, and making  a positive impact in their communities.  

That brings us to: Whitefish. A particular species of fish that is native to Maine lakes and ponds, that is slowly dwindling in population, and going unnoticed by the community. Our particular class started with the simple idea of just aquatic invasives, not focusing on anything specific, but wanting to use the broad topic as a starting point to research deeper.

Once we, as a class, researched further into what invasive aquatics there are locally, we understood that plant invasive species are much harder to deal with, and are being dealt with by professionals already. This created a block in that particular area, so instead, we casually researched invasive and native fish instead, eventually finding the whitefish. The uniqueness of this fish piqued our interest, and once we learned more about it, we chose whitefish as our focus for our class.

Our Challenge Statement: 

Our class is a project based class, focusing on one particular problem that we want to tackle, and positively affect. We do this using the design thinking process. To guide us and provide clarification on our particular problem, we created a challenge statement. This is a focused statement that summarizes our entire goal, and provides something clear and concise for everyone, including the community partners we have been working with. The statement is as follows, “How might we provide awareness to the problems invasive fish bring to freshwater ecosystems so that we can keep the native whitefish populations thriving while also maintaining sportfishing?” Our project is focusing on Maine whitefish in South Pond. This is what the rest of the article will be focused on, and what our class has been asking ourselves while we are researching, creating informational resources, and working together.

Research into Whitefish, And What We Have Gathered:

Our class has spent many weeks gathering our research to better understand our problem. We have used ME.gov as one of our primary resources for our research. 

In Maine, lake whitefish have decreased in population, partly due to the introduction of non-native rainbow smelt which have negative impacts on whitefish reproduction. White fish are native to ponds and lakes throughout Maine and are now only found in four locations throughout the state.  Rainbow smelt surpass whitefish in the competition for food resources and will prey on their eggs as well as their young. In addition to smelt decreasing the population, overfishing, habitat changes and acidification have also negatively affected whitefish populations. 

Nick Kalejs, a Fisheries Biologist for Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, has been one of our community partners throughout this project. He has helped us gain valuable information about our problem. While continuing to help us as we find ways to approach this challenge. Nick will be surveying ponds throughout Maine if you see him, don’t be afraid to say hi and ask him questions on ways you can help.

How We Plan to Bring Awareness:

Whitefish need our help, plain and simple, and our class is now starting to actively assist. We are diligently working to find ways to spread awareness, one of which being this article. This article is just another way to spread our information, hopefully to another realm of people, and make them aware of this problem. Our class is also working on creating an educational video to outline ways people in our community can help white fish throughout the state. 

This video is informative, funny and engaging, providing a real life example on what someone who is fishing can do to protect local species like the whitefish. Our classmates, who are all in a teenage age group, will be able to act and communicate in a way that is engaging to all audiences, from young to old. The video helps provide examples on ways people can decrease the number of invasives that negatively impact whitefish populations when fishing the same easy way. 

Conclusion:

Our plan is to continue to speak out and bring awareness to the challenges invasive species bring to native whitefish populations. Our class is dedicated to bringing awareness to the challenges invasives have on Maine’s native species. We have multiple events in our class’s near future that will continue to help spread our knowledge and awareness, one being a field trip to a real life maine fishery, as well as to speak to panels of change makers in our local government about our cause. 

A law was passed at the state level just recently that is in support of our cause, LD 77, regarding a slight tax change that will give money towards our local hatcheries, helping all species of native fish in Maine. The law summary is as follows, 

“This bill establishes the Inland Fisheries Conservation and Enhancement Fund to be 26 used by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for the conservation and 27 enhancement of inland freshwater fisheries resources. The bill increases the fee for inland 28 fishing licenses by $7.00 and dedicates $6.00 of the increase to the Inland Fisheries 29 Conservation and Enhancement Fund and $1 of the increase to the Boat Launch Facilities 30 Fund.” (LD77)

 This is just one example of how people in Maine, not just our class, are starting to notice the problems native fish species are facing, and are actively providing solutions. We hope this article has provided you with information to start to recognize and help the challenges whitefish along with other native species are facing throughout the state. Let this inspire you to look into your local resources on lakes near you, and continue to fight for our environment.