The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection has continued its prohibition against taking fish species alewife and blueback herring from most inland and marine waters in the state.
Opening day for fishing season is April 11.
The prohibition on those two fish species initially was put in place in 2002 and will extend through at least March 31, 2016.
The two species, which are commonly referred to as river herring, hatch in freshwater, grow in the ocean, and return to freshwater to breed. The prohibition was put in to stem a decline in the numbers of these herring, which typically aren’t consumed by humans but are food for larger gamefish and birds like bald eagles and ospreys.
The prohibition does not extend to places where the alewives are landlocked, such as Amos Lake, Ball Pond, Beach Pond, Candlewood Lake, Crystal Lake, Highland Lake, Mount Tom Pond, Lake Quassapaug, Lake Quonnipaug, Squantz Pond, Uncas Pond, and Lake Waramaug.
