The Brook Trout Pond Survey Project is a collaborative effort by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), Maine Council of Trout Unlimited (METU), and Maine Audubon (MA). The goal is to recruit volunteers to identify previously-undocumented wild brook trout populations in remote Maine ponds. Maine brook trout are a special resource, and we need to know where they are before we can protect and manage them appropriately. The information collected by volunteer anglers will help inform future fisheries management decisions.
You can Help in 2012
The success of this project is entirely dependent on the data collected by volunteer anglers. Anglers can choose one or more ponds in our survey area to find and fish. The project’s focus on remote ponds offers angler a chance to explore new places while advancing trout conservation efforts. This project seeks to concentrate survey efforts on those ponds that are most likely to contain wild populations of brook trout. None of these ponds have ever been surveyed by Maine fisheries biologists, and there are no records of past stocking, so any brook trout found in them are native, wild fish.
Volunteers should be enthusiastic about fishing for brook trout, be comfortable in remote settings, and have a sense of adventure. Surveys can be done any time before September 30th. We will update our website with new information as it becomes available. We plan to have the pond list, Google Earth map of ponds to survey, and 2011 project report posted on the website in Early to Mid-April 2012.