The Maine Fishery Resources Office recently collaborated with the University of Maine at the Green Lake National Fish Hatchery Open House on August 27 to educate patrons on the native fish community in Green Lake.  A display poster informed the public that Green Lake is one of only twelve lakes in Maine that contain relic populations of Arctic  charr.  Other objectives of the effort were to display historic pictures and present information regarding the possibility that Arctic charr could have been introduced from the old Green Lake Station Federal Hatchery that was in operation between 1891-1923.  This historic hatchery was located 3.5 northwest of the current facility. 

Historic records housed at the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery library indicate that 31,774 Arctic charr fry and 10 adults were stocked in the Green Lake basin during the period of 1896, and 1897-99.  The origin of these transfers were exclusively from Floods Pond, a nearby well-known native Arctic charr lake. 

The Maine Department of Inland Fish and Wildlife Arctic Charr Management Plan presumes that this population is native to Green Lake and current department records indicate that the last documented Arctic charr sampling in the lake took place in 1997, when four of these charr were captured. 

Our interactions with the public during the Open House indicated that most home owners residing on the lake did not know that Arctic charr existed in their lake.  Enthusiasm from these landowners prompted the fishery resources office and molecular biologists from the Univ. of Maine to undertake a non-lethal sampling effort to resolve the controversy on the origin of Arctic charr in Green Lake.  To help reduce costs in our sampling efforts, a Green Lake resident kindly offered to provide lake access as well as lodging for our group. 

Our sampling effort utilized the same methodology (same traps and locations) as previous non-lethal department charr collection efforts.  Previous department efforts resulted in 2 Arctic charr (0.6 charr/trap/24hr soak) with overnight soaks utilizing three traps.  The consequent results of our three independent sets (Sept. 17-18, Oct. 6), using four traps per set corresponded to 340 hours of soak time which yielded no Arctic charr. 

If future fishery resources office funding exists, our next sampling effort would take place in mid June of 2006, because this is the time period that previous department efforts caught Arctic charr.  Until then, the controversy on the natural origin of this native Maine charr remains a mystery.