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Fish and Wildlife Department Says New Regulations Would Protect Clyde Salmon |
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Wednesday, 05 August 2009 |
Anglers who fish in the Clyde River near the 1,2, 3 Powerhouse off Clyde Street, may soon have new regulations that they will have to deal with.
(Photo by Christopher Roy)
By CHRISTOPHER ROY
Express Staff Writer
In an effort to protect the salmon population, anglers may soon have new regulations to follow when fishing on certain parts of the Clyde River.
Leonard Gerardi, a biologist from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife
Department, talked on Wednesday, July 29, about those new rules during
a meeting at the Emory Hebard State Office Building.
Regulations have been in place since 1988 that prohibit the use of any
bait except artificial lures and flies from the abandoned Mill Dam to
the Gardner Park bridge during the month of October. In addition,
salmon caught in the area during that time, have to be released. Now
the department wants to apply the same rules for the next three years,
as a test area from the Mill Dam up the Clyde River, through Clyde
Pond, into Derby Center, and Big and Little Salem lakes, ending at the
dam in West Charleston.
The Fish and Wildlife Department would also like to have an area near
Newport 1,2,3 hydroelectric powerhouse, off Clyde Street, closed to
fishing from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31. This is in addition to the
mid-April through May 31 closure that is already in place.
“The goal that’s shared by groups like the Vermont Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Group and Trout Unlimited is to promote natural
reproduction,” he said. However, they are not necessarily seeking to
stop the stocking of fish. “They want to protect the fish to a certain
extent so they can do natural reproduction.”
The department doesn’t consider the people who use live bait for
walleye, yellow perch, and bass in October a huge risk to salmon.
Gerardi said Wayne Laroche, commissioner of the state Fish and Wildlife
Department can put these regulations into place without authorization
from the Legislature or the Fish and Wildlife Board. However, it is
customary to keep them informed.
“It’s important to the anglers of the State of Vermont,” he said.
“Landlocked Atlantic salmon are basically a subspecies of Atlantic
salmon.”
Those fish, he said, are known to people in Europe as the king of fish and the fish of kings.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 August 2009 )
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