rather than protect the environment. Exceptions are water supply lakes, which 

 are usually managed to maintain clean water, and wildlife management areas and 

 parks, which attempt to maintain high quality environments, plant and animal 

 populations, and high aesthetic values. 



Appendix table 3 lists the named lakes in each region and other information on 

 each lake, including fishery appraisals; known existence of dams (data 

 incomplete), fishways, and screens; lake reclamation; stocking records; and 

 the occurrence of aquatic pesticides, hydrogen sulfide, siltation, and water 

 level problems. 



Although coastal zone lakes generally support good sport fishing, commercial 

 fishing is restricted to the collection of immature eels (elvers). Most lakes 

 support both coldwater and warmwater fishing but the trend is for warmwater 

 species to dominate the western regions and for coldwater fishes to dominate 

 the eastern regions (see "Biota" above). 



Little has been documented on how coastal zone lakes are managed by private 

 landowners. Some public lakes are managed by the Maine Department of Inland 

 Fisheries and Wildlife by stocking lakes with fish, principally sport fish. 

 In the last several decades fish have been stocked in 109 lakes (some are 

 repeated stockings) as determined from data in appendix table 3. Most of the 

 plantings (74%) were in regions 4 to 6, and 43% were in region 5. More than 

 half of the plantings were brook trout and Atlantic salmon, which were planted 

 largely in the deep, cold lakes of regions 5 and 6. 



From 1955 to 1973, nine lakes in the coastal zone were reclaimed by killing 

 the fish with chemicals. Of the nine lakes, two were reclaimed in each of 

 regions 4 and 6, and five were reclaimed in region 5 (appendix table 3). The 

 lakes were relatively small, 10 to 232 acres (4 to 94 ha), and all were 

 stocked with brook trout. 



RESEARCH NEEDS 



More detailed information on ecology, plant communities, fish and wildlife, 

 and fishing and hunting on public lakes in the coastal zone is needed. 

 Present data on lake water levels and downstream temperatures and flow are 

 insufficient. More data are needed to establish an ecologically sound basis 

 for removing or modifying abandoned or nonfunctional dams, when applicable, 

 and for controlling water levels and discharges of functional dams, in order 

 to improve fish and wildlife habitat and the environment as a whole. 



Since lake watersheds in coastal Maine are principally forested, additional 

 information is needed on how such operations as clearcutting and insect 

 control affect silt, nutrient and toxic runoff, and lake productivity and 

 biotic composition. Cause and effect studies would assist in planning and 

 managing lakes and forests as integral parts of the coastal ecosystem. 



Data are needed, also, to better classify lakes on the basis of water 

 temperature, depth, light penetration, watershed boundaries and flow patterns, 

 and productivity, in order to better determine management options and 

 priorities for habitat protection and for fishery management policies. 



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