CASTINE, Maine (AP)   An environmental advocacy group in rural Maine is looking for volunteers to collect data about smelts, which are tiny fish that have been subject to new protections in the state in recent years.

Maine has tightened fishing restrictions on smelts in an attempt to improve the health of the fish’s populations. The Downeast Salmon Federation says it’s seeking citizen scientists to help monitor sea-run smelt populations and identify smelt habitat in Down East Maine.

The organization says the project will extend from the Bagaduce watershed, in the area of Penobscot and Castine, to the Canadian border. Smelt runs typically happen from early April to May.

The group says it’ll hold a smelt monitor training session on April 13 at a fish hatchery in Columbia Falls.