We think there's a minimal risk of impacting other native species,'' said John Boland, regional biologist in southern Maine. Rainbows may not be natives, but they've been stocked in Maine waters off and on for at least 70 years, including a state program from 1968-78. Rainbows also slip into the state's waters from New Hampshire, where 300,000 are stocked annually. New Hampshire has been stocking rainbows since 1878. I'm sure the fishermen wouldn't like to get by without them.
Rainbows also are in Maine because they are very popular with the owners of private ponds.
Of the 120,000 fish raised in private hatcheries and sold each year, about 100,000 are rainbows, which are stocked annually in roughly 800 ponds, said Sonny Pierce, a former state fisheries biologist who now operates a private hatchery in Hollis. They're very easy to work with. They're a gold mine for us compared to the other species. People love them. In the past few years, local Trout Unlimited chapters have stocked rainbows with the state's blessing in the Kennebec River at Waterville and in Megunticook Lake in Camden.