Lake Winnipesaukee’s Salmon Declining

No doubt many of you have read Roger Amsden’s column, in the January 18th edition of the New Hampshire Union Leader, about the cancellation of this year’s May 29th annual Winni Derby, due to a decline in the numbers of trophy-sized salmon being landed in Lake Winnipesaukee. Rick Davis, executive director of the Winni Derby since its inception, stated that, “We understand that the amount of fishing pressure is way up and it stays that way all season long.” He mentioned that members of the derby committee met with Fish and Game biologists at one of their netting sites in mid-November to observe the fish being measured and weighed. 

“At this net site there are normally 400 to 500 salmon. In 2009, we counted just over 70. There was only one salmon that weighed over three pounds, and by actual count, 30 percent were hook-wounded,” Davis said. According to Don Miller, fisheries biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, the number of hook-wounded salmon has doubled over the last five years. 

Miller also stated that the catch-and-release practiced by many anglers is playing a major role in reducing the size of the salmon in Lake Winnipesaukee. Don said that hook-wounded salmon are shorter and weigh less. The same situation prevails on Squam and Sunapee lakes as well. He also mentioned that the decline in the size of the salmon is taking place despite the presence of a large and healthy forage base of smelt and smaller fish species. 

Rick Davis said that the size of the winning salmon in the derby has dropped significantly, from 6.02 pounds in 2003 to 4.74 pounds in 2007, 4.28 pounds in 2008 and 4.12 pounds in 2009. He also mentioned that the expansion of charter boat services around the lake appears to be a contributing factor in the decline. “No one seems to know how many charter boats are fishing the lake. Reports of 20 to 40 salmon per day being caught are not uncommon.” He also mentioned that the derby results in about 225 fish being killed, but there are no records showing how many salmon are caught and released during the three day event. 

Davis said the derby has had as many as 2,700 entrants in a year and has been slightly under 2,000 in recent years. He noted that the event brings in hundreds of thousands of tourist dollars into the state before the start of the summer season. 

Don Miller and fellow biologist, John Viar, are asking anglers to use caution when releasing hooked salmon and to use rubber fish nets when landing salmon to help prevent the loss of their slime coat, which protects them from infections. Anglers are also urged to keep severely hook-damaged fish rather than continuing to seek larger fish.

There is no doubt that a serious problem in salmon decline is upon us and something drastic needs to be done to bring back the population and large sizes. In fishing for salmon, anglers are allowed to fish two rods each. If a charter boat has four people on board, including the captain, that is a total of 10 rods in the water trolling. In my boat, holding a total of three people, that’s six rods out. One thing I feel would help the situation is for there to be a rod limit to only one rod per angler instead of allowing two rods. Added to that, perhaps a lower daily limit and adjustments to the length of the salmon season would help. 

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is planning to have public hearings concerning solutions to this problem in late spring and early summer where the public is welcome to submit any ideas they may have for improving the salmon fishery in Winnipesaukee and other salmon lakes. It will be to our advantage to attend these hearings. I will keep you advised on when and where the meetings will be held. 

Bob Harris can be reached via e-mail at: outwriter2@aol.com

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