Those who have been following our latest podcasts likely heard last week that a group in New Brunswick has officially begun their chemical treatment plan to eradicate Smallmouth Bass from the Miramichi watershed.
For those who aren’t aware, the Smallmouth Bass is considered, by some, a threat to the native population of Atlantic Salmon that once thrived in the system, but have since seen their populations wane.
The first step of the plan to win the watershed back for the salmon was announced to have kicked off on September 12th, with Rotenone, a chemical that inhibits fish from taking in oxygen, introduced into Lake Brook – just 15km from the famous Miramichi River.
Expectedly, this program has incited a serious uproar from anglers and outdoor enthusiasts nationwide, some of whom have begun flooding our inboxes with videos of the event.
Here is one from Wayne Narvey who was at the scene the day of the poisoning.
Since this video was posted online, as well as countless others like it, the decision to continue the poisoning has been paused for the remainder of 2022 and awaits further evaluation for 2023.
Be sure to check back in here for updates, and tune in to our Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts, to hear Ang and Pete’s take on stories like this one.
This needs to be framed as a good news story. Smallmouth are not native to that area of NB and should never have been introduced in the first place.
Anglers should never take it upon themselves to move gamefish from one body of water to another. The same goes with live bait.
Far too many fisheries (especially brook trout fisheries) have been destroyed by illegal stocking.
For the record I love fishing for smallies and spent much time this past summer targeting them. That said they don’t belong in every lake and anglers need to understand the impacts of fish introductions.