The Nature Conservancy on Thursday will open a new fishway on the Mattabesset River in East Berlin with the help of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.
The fishway restores disdromous fish passage to 16.5 miles of spawning habitat, along with 51.8 million of stream habitat for species including American shad (Connecticut’s state fish), alewife, blueback herring, gizzard shad, sea lamprey, sea-run brown trout, white perch, striped bass, and American eel.
The new fishway is located on the property of East Berlin polymer company Stan-Chem, which includes a dam. Stan-Chem gave the conservancy and DEEP permission to build the fishway.
The Nature Conservancy and DEEP will have a dedication at 10 a.m. Thursday at 401 Berlin St. in East Berlin.
