Fish Ladders to be built in Branford

With the help of a grant from the Long Island Sound Fund and in conjunction with Yale University, the Branford Land Trust is constructing a series of fish ladders in an attempt to restore several species of what are commonly called river herring and to monitor the restorations effects on the ecosystem. The system, currently under construction, is being set up at the supply ponds to allow access for river herring, which live in both salt and fresh water. The project is being managed by the state DEP as well as Professor David Post from Yale University. Yale has a long-standing research program involving Linsley Pond and, after conferring with the state, it was determined that the project would benefit not only to the streams and ponds in the watershed but the Sound and even coastal Atlantic waters.

River herring are actual several different species of small fish, alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blue backed herring (Alosa aestivalis). These species are anadromous, which means they swim upstream from coastal waters to breed and need both fresh and salt waters to complete their life cycle. They're found in near shore waters when not spawning and were once the largest and most important part of the Sound food web. They spawn and breed in the once-numerous streams, rivers, and brooks that finger their way to into the Sound. Dams, encroachment, and pollution have forced the fish to adapt. Some small populations have become landlocked in ponds and lakes along the shoreline but are susceptible to die offs. The data collected by Yale from Linsley Pond shows a landlocked population did survive there until the seventies. Others adapted by finding the last few remaining accessible breeding sites but mostly the populations have simply crashed to a mere fraction of the historical numbers.

The goal is to fully restore the breeding areas of these species of river herring. The system will allow the herring to navigate up into the supply ponds and from there into the numerous creeks and brooks running into it. The small rivulets provide the natural habitat that the herring need for spawning. [org pub Shore Publishing by Ben Rayner]