BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 15, 2022
Landlocked salmon, a form of Atlantic salmon, were native to just four watersheds in Maine. It is unclear why DIF&W started stocking landlocked salmon in Sebago Lake, but it was likely they were responding to complaints about poor fishing due to angler exploitation. Between 1945 and 1948, DIF&W stocked roughly 245,000 brown trout in the lake. Between 1972 and 1982, more than 315,000 nonnative lake trout were stocked. Nonnative smallmouth bass. were stocked in Sebago Lake in 1937. By the early 1960s, nonnative largemouth bass had been introduced to Sebago Lake. Salmon belong in Sebago Lake, and we need to do everything we can to help preserve them. It’s time to suspend salmon stocking, provide absolute protection to salmon, and stop protecting nonnative lake trout and bass. ~ Bob Mallard