Bob Gregorski Fish That Climb Ladders Anglers who fish in rivers that have fishways/ladders/elevators have the industrial revolution to blame for damming up their migratory routes to spawning grounds. Now they have modern man to thank somewhat for restoring their routes upriver. The following is an example of success and lack there of in Connecticut that is part of the Diadromous Fish Enhancement and Restoration Report 2006. Note: The data for each yearly report is not completed, reviewed and printed until later in the following year. Some fishways operate in the fall. The Connecticut DEP, Diadromous Fish Enhancement and Restoration 2006 Report arrived September 13, 2007. Project Leader Stephen Gephard, Supervising Fisheries Biologist, reported good news and bad. The following paragraphs are some of the highlights of the 51-page report that covers six Jobs. Job 1: Restoration of Atlantic Salmon to the Connecticut River Basin. The return of 214 Atlantic salmon was 28 more than last year. The five-year average return is 111. Note: 2006 was the fifth consecutive year that the return number of adult salmon increased. Last year, more than 3.7 million eggs were produced and about 1.2 million fry and 25,000 smolts were stocked in the Farmington, Salmon and Eightmile River watersheds. A total of 1,487 adult (post-spawned or sexually barren broodstock no longer needed for restoration) were stocked into the Naugatuck (735) and Shetucket (752) rivers for recreational fishing. Job 2: Restoration and Enhancement of ANADROMOUS CLUPEIDS Kinneytown Fishway |
(Naugatuck River) passed 0 shad, 0 alewife and 0 blueback herring compared to 2, 1 and 2 in 2005.Greeneville Dam Fishlift (Shetucket River) passed 1,981 shad, 2,412 alewives and 9 blueback herring compared to 1,776 shad, 592 alewives and 5 in 2005. Rainbow Fishway (Farmington River) passed 73 shad, 0 alewife and 0 blueback herring adults upstream. There were 8, 1 and 4 respectively in 2005. Adult shad were transplanted into the following rivers: Eightmile (67), Farmington (58), Naugatuck (72) and Quinnipiac (63) to accelerate restoration in those rivers. All fishway counts for river herring were down for the fifth consecutive season. Note: The 72 adult shad stocked into the Naugatuck were released in Thomaston and the 549 alewives were released in Seymour. Job 3: Restoration and Enhancement of AMERICAN EEL. The Greeneville Fishway passed 1,055 eels compared to 125 in 2005. The Mill River Eel Pass passed 5,235 compared to 11,014 in 2005. Job: 4 Development and Enhancement of Sea-run trout. Approximately 40,000 brown trout fry and 22,000 brown trout parr were stocked in suitable habitat in nine rivers or brooks. About 2,500 age-1 brown trout and 2,500 tiger trout were stocked into five selected rivers (Saugatuck, Naugatuck, Thames, Latimer andSalmon). The sea-run rivers and brooks are: Mianus, Saugatuck, Naugatuck, Farm, Hammonasset, Eightmile, Salmon, Thames, Shunock and Latimer and Whitford Brooks. |
Fishladders 2005 Fish That Climb Ladders Anglers who fish in rivers that have fishways/ladders/elevators have the industrial revolution to blame for damming up their migratory routes to spawning grounds. Now they have modern man to thank somewhat for restoring their routes upriver. The following is an example of success and lack there of in Connecticut that is part of the Diadromous Fish Report 2005. Note: Since the data for each year report is not completed, reviewed and printed until later in the following year, the 2005 arrived in September 2006. Some fishways operate in the fall. The Connecticut DEP, Diadromous Fish Enhancement and Restoration 2005 Report arrived in September. Project Leader Stephen Gephard, Supervising Fisheries Biologist, reported good news and bad. The following paragraphs are some of the highlights of the 50-page report that covers six Jobs. Job 1: Restoration of Atlantic Salmon to the Connecticut River Basin. The return of 186 Atlantic salmon more than doubled last year (69). The five-year is 76.4. Last year, more than 3.0 million eggs were produced about1.5 million fry, and 36,732 smolts were stocked in the Farmington, Salmon and Eightmile River watersheds. A total of 1,766 adult (post-spawned or sexually barren broodstock no longer needed for restoration) was stocked into the Naugatuck (916) and Shetucket (850) Rivers for recreational fishing.
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Job 2: Restoration and Enhancement of ANADROMOUS CLUPEIDS Kinneytown Fishway (Naugatuck River) passed 2 shad, 1 alewife and 2 blueback herring compared to 1, 4, and 1 in 2004. Greeneville Dam Fishlift (Shetucket River) passed 1,767 shad, 592 alewives and 5 blueback herring compared to 2,005, 329 and 2 respectively in 2004. Rainbow Fishway (Farmington River) 8 shad, 1 alewife and 4 blueback herring adults upstream. There were 123, 19, and 38 respectively in 2004. Adult shad were transplanted into the following rivers: Eightmile (80), Quinebaug (63), Farmington (84) to accelerate restoration in those rivers. All fishway counts for river herring were down for the fourth season. Job 3: Restoration and Enhancement of AMERICAN EEL. The Greeneville Fishway passed 125 eels compared to 365 in 2004 and 368 in 2003. Job: 4 Development and Enhancement of Sea-run trout. Approximately 44,000 brown trout fry and 27,000 brown trout parr were stocked in suitable habitat in nine rivers or brooks. About 3,000 age-1 brown trout and 1,500 tiger trout were stocked for the first time into five selected rivers. The sea-run rivers and brooks were: Mianus, Saugatuck, Naugatuck, Farm, Hammonasset, Eightmile, Salmon, Thames, Shunock and Latimer and Whitford Brooks.
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