r shortly after 1898.
Because of doubts of the effectiveness of stocking fry, the Connecticut Fish Commissioners in 1895 laid out a small system of rearing ponds at Joshuatown, Lyme. Several million fry per year were stocked in those ponds and retained until October when they were drawn into the Connecticut River. The retaining ponds supposedly protected the young fish until fall when they were considered large enough to no longer need protection. Several years after these operations started, shad became more numerous and the increase was attributed to the added protection of the retaining ponds. Whatever the cause of that increase may have been, stocking a retaining pond and later releasing fingerlings did not have a similar outcome on the Housatonic. A pond known as Pecks’ Pond was leased by the state and stocked with fry to be released as fingerlings in the Housatonic but after four years’ operation, this procedure was reluctantly halted. It failed to bring back the run to that river. A recapitulation of the rearing operation shows that from 1896 through 1910, 57,029,000 shad fry were placed in the Joshuatown rearing ponds, and from 1899 through 1904, 11,500,000 shad fry were placed in Pecks’ Pond for the Housatonic. There is only passing reference to the possible morality in these ponds; one notes that the morality must be low because very few dead fish were found. It would seem that this assumption would be correct only under the most ideal conditions.”
All for major gear types have had times that historically produced significant shad landings* in Connecticut – notice the highs have occurred during the largely NAO period 1942 to 1972. (Marine Resources Management Plan for the State of Connecticut, prepared by Mark M., Blake, Marine Biologist Marine Fisheries Program, Eric M. Smith, Assistant Director, Bureau of Fisheries Marine Fisheries Program – July 1984.)
Drift gill net – flag or ring type
Highest year – 1946 - 551,000 lbs
Fykes – Anchor Set Traps or Stake Gill Net
Highest year – 1966 - 142,000 lbs
Highest Year – 1948 – 222,000 lbs
Highest Year – 1948 – 55,000 lbs
Habitat Capacity Key to Shad Fisheries
The removal of fish passage blockages was first described in 1867 “Report of the Commissioners Concerning the Protection of Fish in the Connecticut River, &c. to the General Assembly, May Session, 1867.” Those fish restoration efforts continue today – the Connecticut Fund For The Environment and The Nature Conservancy and other civic groups continue to install fish ladders so fish can access spawning habitat and return to the Connecticut River and do so in cooperation and with technical information from the CT Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection. The effort to restore fish passage has placed Connecticut as a leader in these efforts with a foundation its shad fishery.
For more information about shad and alewife restoration efforts an excellent newsletter called the Connecticut Weekly Diadromous Fish Report is available from CT DEEP online and gives fish counts of returning fish at major recording sites along Connecticut’s Coast. It can be found at CT DEEP Marine Fisheries or just search the name CT Diadromous Fish Reports.
The shad fishery of course is linked to the seafood consuming public and the past few years have been good generally for Connecticut. Last year almost 400,000 shad were counted going over fish ladders on their way to spawning habitats. The shad bakes keep this part of Connecticut Shad Fishery history “alive” as new generations learn about the shad fisheries of the past and the future. Many seafood consumers have been trying shad roe and found that once a Native American favorite is now theirs.
Shad fishing continues today along the Connecticut River and its gear is primarily now gillnets. The fyke nets haul seines and traps have long gone out of use. The number of licensed shad fishers has dropped below 20 raising concerns about the future fishery.
I am always interested in fisheries history and stories about fishing gear. Drop me a line at firstname.lastname@example.org
Model 