AUGUSTA, Maine — The popularity of soft plastic fishing lures has grown in Maine over the last two decades and is now a very popular bait for Bass fishermen.
Consequently, Maine fisheries biologists say, plastic lures have ended up in Maine’s waters and land intentionally due to improper disposal and inadvertently due to loss while fishing.
So, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife is conducting a survey with anglers as part of an educational and awareness campaign to encourage the proper use and disposal of the bait.
Director of Fisheries & Hatcheries for D.I.F. & W. Francis Brautigam says the plastic lures have also been found in fish, due to feeding on lost and discarded lures which have recently raised public concerns discussed in the Maine legislature.
"Concerns that have been expressed in the legislature regarding possible bands on soft plastic lures were born out of concern and frustration that soft plastic lures continue to accumulate in our waters of the state," Brautigam said. "If there are responsible actions that anglers can take and do take, it will really greatly reduce those concerns that place a very popular floor at risk of being lost in the future."
Brautigam says the goal of the educational campaign will be to come back in a year or two to re-survey the public and see if their awareness and practices have changed in response to the campaign.
For more information about the survey, you can click here.