Conservation
Maine DOC looking for your input
(Photo courtesy of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands) The renovated boating facility at Rockwood on Moosehead Lake provides improved access to the famous Maine lake. The site is one of 15 facilities renovated since 2008 by the Boating Facilities Division, Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, Maine Department of Conservation.
Here's an opportunity for MBFN members to tell us how we are doing here at the Department of Conservation Boating Program. We have set up three surveys on THE DOC website where folks can tell us how satisfied they have been with a particular boating facility, or with our navigational aids marking on a particular lake (we only mark inland waters) or where they feel we need new or improved recreational boating access (ponds, streams or coastal) or lake marking.
We will also be placing postage paid post cards on users' vehicles when our crews stop to do maintenance or to inspect our buoys. We also have established a toll-free number, sort of a Recreational Boating Hotline, where folks can call and ask anything about recreational boating. They probably won't get a live person to talk to all the time, but we will check messages at least daily. If we do not have an answer immediately, we will research the questions and get back to the caller. We are doing this as we have heard people complain that they had to speak to as many as 12 people before they got to us and an answer. Even a legislator complained he did not know where to call to get a boat ramp repaired.
Finally, we have been asking folks to send us reports when they are aware of ice-out on lakes and ponds around the state. We post the information on our website as a service to boaters and others who want to know the status of their particular lake. If you would please make this information known to your memberships, we would appreciate the effort.
If you have any questions, feel free to give George Powell, Director Boating Facilities Division Bureau of Parks & Lands Department of Conservation a call 207.287.4964 Fax 287.8111, or write to George Powell 22 SHS Augusta, ME 04333
For more information about the Boating Facilities Division surveys, go to: http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/boating/surveys.html
For more information about the Division ice-out page, go to: http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/boating/ice_out12.html
For more information about the Boating Facilities Division, go to: http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/boating/index.html
For more information about the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, go to: http://www.parksandlands.com
See State-owned and State-sponsored boating facilities on Google Earth at http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/boating/googlemaps.html http://maine.gov/doc/parks/feathersoverfreeport.shtml
Bass Anglers Boosting CBI Stats
If you looked closely at the statistics for Maine’s courtesy boat inspections in 2010, you probably noticed the sharp increases in overall inspections, waterbodies with inspections and participating organizations. Those increases were partly due to inspections conducted at Maine’s bass tournaments. Read full article on page 10-11
Join the Angler Conservation Team
Are your fisheries' resources worth protecting? Do you want to improve fishing in your area? If your answers are yes, then you'll want to join the B.A.S.S. Angler Conservation Team (ACT) supported by Ramada Worldwide. ACT is a network of leisure anglers like you who volunteer to protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitats. ACT members are invited to help fellow anglers, communities and natural resource managers with grassroots projects such as building and placing fish habitats in lakes, planting native aquatic vegetation, ensuring angler access to waterways and more. Read more
B.A.S.S. Action - Get Involved With Conservation
Below you will find links and helpful information that can be used to learn more about conservation issues effecting bass and bass anglers. From the latest research on largemouth bass virus to how you can more efficiently handle your catch in order to assure that it remains alive once you release it.
•Largemouth bass virus (LMBV) fact sheet - Your definitive guide to learning more about largemouth bass virus, including annual workshop reports, state reports, research papers and frequently asked questions many anglers have concerning the dreaded virus.
•New Prescriptions for Tournament Care - Since B.A.S.S. released the booklet Keeping Bass Alive, a Guidebook for Anglers and Tournament Organizers, there have been many new innovations and techniques in fish care that anglers and tournament directors should know about.
•Keeping Bass Alive - A guidebook for anglers and tournament organizers to use. The objective of these articles is very simple — maximize the survival of bass that are caught and released during tournaments.
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