Fishing on the Connecticut

Fishing on the Connecticut. . , Because of the combination of fresh and saltwater habitats at the river's mouth, a wide variety of fish species have the opportunity to feed, reproduce and/or establish populations., The Native American diet depended on this variety and abundance of fish to survive. They developed sophisticated netting methods where, depending on the species, different mesh sizes and weights were utilized. The Native Americans used spears for catching sturgeon, which were fished at night from canoes. The light from torches attracted the fish and caused them to rise to the surface where they were swiftly and nimbly caught by these fishermen., The Colonists also depended on other species of fish that were abundant at the mouth on the river. Atlantic Salmon traveling upstream to spawn in the spring were so bountiful and eaten so often that a law was passed prohibiting feeding of these fish to servants more than twice a week. During spawning season, one legend has it, with so many fish in the river, a man could cross the river on their backs as they swam upstream., Shad were also an abundant fish in the Connecticut River, enabling the native and European born inhabitants at Saybrook Point to survive. Thousands of barrels of shad were put up form Connecticut for the troops in the Revolutionary War from 1778-1781. After the revolution, shad fishing became a very profitable industry. A variety of methods were developed to catch them. Fish traps and nets were set out in the Sound at the Mouth of the river. Fish piers were erected, to which was attached a seine. This was then loaded into boats and rowed across the channel. When the seine was filled with fish, it would be wound in by the capstan, and upright winch, on the pier. Ter a third method was developed where drift nets were put out from the piers. The fish piers of those days, the records indicate, were piles of rubble built up until they were above eh high water mark with wooden platforms serving as capstans., In the first half of the nineteenth century, there was no question that the fish business was flourishing. shad roe (eggs) was salted and sold in five pound palls or "kits". This abundant resource continued for the next ten years or s, where thousands of barrels were packed during the season. But the days of the thriving shads runs were short-lived. Dams were built on the Connecticut River in Enfield, Connecticut in the 1820s, and Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1849. The fish could not reach the place to lay their eggs. Later, pollution in the river also hurt them. By the 1860s, shad fishing yielded low returns and the organized fishing companies ceased operating. A program of lab breeding and egg-planting below dams boosted numbers for a time, but by the late 1800s, shad harvesting had become a small-scale pursuit. Fishing methods evolved, from rod and reel to the use of smaller gill nets to harvest the Shad, Fisherman would have to know the rivers landmarks, the tides and the winds and use them to his advantage. They also needed to know where the rocks and limbs were to avoid tearing their valuable nets., As members of the worldwide community, we must continually be aware of the impact we have on the fish populations in the Connecticut River. With out large appetite for fish consumption, combined with the high-tech sophisticated equipment available to fishermen, we must monitor this consumption to avoid overharvesting, thereby affecting future resources. We must also be sensitive to how we affect the reproductive patterns and health of the marine life in our neighborhood. Our ever-increasing coastal population produces extensive damage to aquatic habitats. Pollution can affect the reproductive capacity of all marine life. Recently, the efforts of cooperative management practices have helped the Connecticut River maintain some of the largest anadromous fish populations in the world. Continued thoughtful management of coastal resources must be employed so that healthy and diverse populations of fish can remain in the lower Connecticut River.