Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

Emergency Burn Ban In Effect 10/26/24 - An emergency burn ban is now in effect for all Connecticut State Parks, Forests, and Wildlife Management areas, prohibiting the use of all outdoor grills, firepits, and campfires, and the kindling and use of flame outdoors. DEEP and local agencies are working to contain several active fires across the state. Please avoid all affected State Parks and Forests, as well as the blue-blazed Mattabesett Trail. The Enduro Trail in Voluntown and portions of North Stonington within the Pachaug State Forest are closed at this time. Please note that today's forest fire danger report remains at an 'extreme' level. More information about the current fire danger, burn ban and recommended safety measures can be found here

Lobster Assessment

The lobster program provides information necessary to maintain a fishery in Long Island Sound with large, stable landings, which does not remove so many mature lobsters that the resource is jeopardized. Combining catch of all ages of lobsters from the Marine Resource Survey, plankton net, and commercial harvest, Fisheries staff have calculated mortality rates approximating 90% annually for the last decade. This information has shown that very few lobsters live long enough to molt more than once after reaching legal size. The result is that the abundance of each year's stock of lobsters available for harvest depends almost entirely on the recruitment of sub-legal lobsters molting to legal size that year. Staff are continuing a juvenile and adult sampling program which will provide data for a mathematical model that will accurately describe and predict mortality, growth and recruitment rates for the Sound's lobster population under various management scenarios. This tool will provide the ability to examine the effects of changing the legal length limit, of reducing fishing effort, or of other management options. The Sound's lobster population supports Connecticut's second most valuable commercial fishery (surpassed in dollar value only by oyster landings), as well as a popular recreational fishing opportunity.

FALL 2007 Lobster Assessment Progress Report

The latest Disaster Relief Report summarizing the results of the lobster assessment and monitoring project from 2001 to 2005: Spring 2005 Disaster Relief Report  

The initial report on the widespread lobster die-off that occurred during 1998-1999: 1999 Lobster Mortality Report

 

Content last updated March 2020