Title 26 — Title 26: Fisheries and Game

Sec. 26-14. Federal aid for fish restoration projects. Section 26-14 is repealed, effective April 14, 2010. (1951, S. 2461d; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 216; P.A. 09-173, S. 8; P.A. 10-3, S. 74.)

Sec. 26-140. Fishing rights in stream crossing highway. Notwithstanding any taking or purchase made or to be made for highway purposes by the commissioner of transportation, the fishing rights in any flowing stream crossing such highway shall run with the land of the abutting own…

Sec. 26-141. Fine for violation. Any person who violates any provision of this part for the violation of which no other penalty is provided shall be fined two hundred fifty dollars. Each fish taken or possessed in violation of any provision of this part shall constitute a separat…

Sec. 26-141a. Standards for flow of water in rivers or streams. Whenever any dam or other structure is maintained in this state which impounds, or diverts, the waters of a river or stream or which dam or other structure affects the flow of water in such a river or stream, the Com…

Sec. 26-141b. Adoption of regulations establishing flow standards for rivers and streams. Procedure. The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall, on or before December 31, 2006, and after consultation and cooperation with the Department of Public Health, the Pub…

Sec. 26-141c. Violation of regulations. After the adoption of regulations pursuant to section 26-141b, no person or municipality, as defined in section 22a-423, shall maintain any dam or structure impounding or diverting water within this state except in accordance with regulatio…

Sec. 26-142. Registration of nets. Permits to tend or operate. Section 26-142 is repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 4952; 1949, S. 2535d; 1957, P.A. 345, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 314; P.A. 74-348, S. 10, 11.)

Sec. 26-142a. Definitions. Licenses, permits, registrations and endorsements. Regulations. Prohibitions. Nonresident licenses. Fees. Commissioner authority. Revocation. Violations. Penalties. Limited access licenses. (a) For the purposes of this section and sections 26-142b and 2…

Sec. 26-142b. Resident-held and nonresident-held principal commercial fishing license, general commercial fishing license and commercial lobster pot fishing license. Restrictions on reissuance, transfer and renewal. (a) For the purposes of this section, “active” with regard to a …

Sec. 26-142c. Vessel permit exemption for taking lobsters or fish for personal use. Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection (a) of section 26-142a, no commercial fishing vessel permit shall be required for any vessel used for taking lobsters or fish, including menhaden, fo…

Sec. 26-142d. Dual-landing agreements for Winter I Summer Flounder. The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall enter into an agreement with the state of Rhode Island, the state of New York or both, to provide for a dual-landing agreement that authorizes commerc…

Sec. 26-143. Nets to be marked. Section 26-143 is repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 4955; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 315; P.A. 74-348, S. 10, 11.)

Sec. 26-143a. Nets to be buoyed and marked. Boats to display license or registration flag. Section 26-143a is repealed, effective October 1, 2014. (P.A. 74-348, S. 4, 11; P.A. 13-83, S. 12.)

Secs. 26-144 to 26-148. Nets for taking tomcod or frost fish. Smelt and tomcod; nets, registration and fee. Taking of smelt and tomcod; open season, net specifications, designated time and area, penalty. Eel pots. Shad; nets; penalty. Set nets for taking shad in Connecticut and F…

Sec. 26-149. Commercial hatcheries. Fees. No person shall operate a commercial hatchery to hold, hatch or rear finfish or crustaceans, including, but not limited to, lobsters and blue crabs, in this state unless such person has obtained a commercial hatchery license from the Comm…

Sec. 26-15. Fish and wildlife restoration projects. Funds for programs and functions of Bureau of Natural Resources. The state of Connecticut assents to the provisions of the Act of Congress titled “Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act”, approved September 2, 1937, and the …

Secs. 26-150 to 26-153. Registration of fishing boat or vessel; operator's license; fees. Boats to display license number. Drag nets. Drag net or seine, license to operate, required. Mesh of nets. Sections 26-150 to 26-153, inclusive, are repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 4963–4965, 4968;…

Sec. 26-154. Restricted waters near mouth of stream or estuary. Use of otter trawls in estuaries. (a) The commissioner may designate certain areas of water in or near the mouth or entrance of any stream or estuary within which area no person shall use any purse net, beam or otter…

Sec. 26-154a. Use of purse seines in Long Island Sound. Section 26-154a is repealed, effective October 1, 2000. (1972, P.A. 44, S. 1, 2; P.A. 74-193, S. 1, 2; P.A. 00-196, S. 65.)

Sec. 26-155. Fish oil or fertilizer. No person shall render any food fish into oil or fertilizer. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the rendering and treatment of fish into food for human or animal consumption. (1949 Rev., S. 4967; September, 1950, S. 2540d.)…

Secs. 26-156 and 26-157. Crabs. Lobsters. Sections 26-156 and 26-157 are repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 4969–4971; 1951, S. 2541d; 1955, S. 2541d, 2542d; 1957, P.A. 283, S. 1; 1959, P.A. 27, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 325, 326; 1972, P.A. 47; P.A. 74-348, S. 10, 11; P.A. 80-164, S. 4, 5.…

Sec. 26-157a. Lobster management program. (a) All live cars or other devices in which lobsters are kept in the water, after having been removed from the pots, traps or trawls in which they were caught shall have branded thereon, in letters or figures not less than three-quarters …

Sec. 26-157b. Reports. Penalty. (a) Each person who engages in commercial fishing in the waters of this state, lands regulated species for commercial purposes in this state regardless of where such species are taken, operates as a seafood dealer or holds any commercial fishing li…

Sec. 26-157c. Regulations governing the taking and possession of lobsters. Regulations implementing the lobster trap allocation buy-back program. (a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, …

Sec. 26-157d. Lobster restoration program. Regulations. (a) The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to establish a lobster restoration program to restore lobster spawning stock by increasing l…

Sec. 26-157e. Commissioner to pursue lobster restoration funds. Administration of funds. Entering into contracts. The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall do all things necessary to apply for, qualify for and accept any federal or state funds made available o…

Sec. 26-157f. Lobster Restoration Advisory Committee. Establishment. Membership. Appointment, procedure and compensation. (a) There is established a Lobster Restoration Advisory Committee to advise the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection on matters relating to the…

Sec. 26-157g. Lobster v-notch restoration program. If the Lobster Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approves a lobster v-notch restoration program having equivalent conservation value to the approved or future requirements of the Commission's Lob…

Sec. 26-157h. Lobster trap allocation buy-back program. Within available appropriations, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall establish a lobster trap allocation buy-back program to permanently retire lobster traps from the lobster fishery. The program sh…

Sec. 26-157i. Economic assistance program for resident commercial lobster fishermen. Establishment. Regulations. (a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall establish an economic assistance program for resident commercial lobster fishermen. (b) Not later tha…

Sec. 26-157j. Seafood dealer, wholesaler or shipper possession and sale of undersized lobsters. Conditions. Documentation. A seafood dealer, wholesaler or shipper may possess and sell lobsters less than the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's American Lobster Fishery Ma…

Sec. 26-158. Sale of lobsters. No person who has taken any lobsters from the waters of this state or any other state which requires a license to take lobsters shall deliver, sell, exchange or possess in this state, or offer for delivery, sale or exchange in this state, any lobste…

Sec. 26-159. Sea sturgeon. Section 26-159 is repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 4973; P.A. 74-348, S. 10, 11.)

Sec. 26-159a. Regulations concerning certain sport and commercial fishing in the marine district and possession of certain species. Penalty. To establish and manage populations of marine and anadromous finfish and marine arthropods and to facilitate the establishment of unified c…

Sec. 26-159b. Taking and selling of sea sturgeon prohibited. Section 26-159b is repealed. (P.A. 74-348, S. 8, 11; P.A. 86-5, S. 2.)

Sec. 26-159c. Commissioner to conduct public hearings in coastal areas. Prior to the adoption of any regulation under subsection (g) of section 26-142a or section 26-159a, the commissioner or the commissioner's designated representative shall conduct a public hearing or hearings …

Sec. 26-15a. Appropriations to Bureau of Natural Resources. Federal aid. Annual report. (a) The provisions of section 26-15 shall remain in full force and effect, and there shall be appropriated to the Bureau of Natural Resources within the Department of Energy and Environmental …

Sec. 26-15b. Annual report re license, permit, stamp and tag fees and expenditures for fish and wildlife programs. On or before October first of each year, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shall submit a report to the Chief of the Wildlife and Sport Fish Rest…

Sec. 26-16. Public hunting and fishing lands and waters. The commissioner is authorized to acquire for the use of the state, by gift, lease, purchase or agreement, fishing, hunting, trapping or shooting rights or privileges on any land or water in this state, with necessary right…

Sec. 26-160. Extension zones. The commissioner may establish zones on either side of the lines fixed by him to distinguish inland waters from the waters of the marine district, in which persons licensed to fish with a net in inland waters or to fish in the waters of the marine di…

Secs. 26-161 to 26-163. Commercial taking of yellow perch. Northern fluke or summer flounder. Alewives and glut herring. Sections 26-161 to 26-163, inclusive, are repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 4976; 1949, S. 2529d; 1951, S. 2514d, 2543d; P.A. 73-129, S. 1, 2; P.A. 75-96; P.A. 80-164, …

Sec. 26-164. Inspection of license. Upon request of the commissioner or any conservation officer or officer authorized to serve criminal process, any licensee shall deliver his license to such person for examination and shall disclose the number and location of each net and permi…

Sec. 26-165. Reports. Section 26-165 is repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 4978; 1971, P.A. 131; 872, S. 329; P.A. 74-348, S. 10, 11.)

Sec. 26-166. Obstructions. No person shall place any obstruction in or upon any fishing place or upon grounds which may be lawfully swept by seines. (1949 Rev., S. 4979.)

Sec. 26-167. Stealing fish, lobsters or equipment. Penalty. No person except the licensed owner, an authorized licensed agent of the owner, the commissioner or authorized agents of the department or law enforcement officers empowered to serve criminal process shall remove or atte…

Sec. 26-168. Sale or taking of salt water fish. Section 26-168 is repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 4981; 1971, P.A. 129; P.A. 80-164, S. 4, 5.)

Sec. 26-169. Nets and seines prohibited in Darien, Stamford and Greenwich. No person shall draw, set or use any net, seine, pound net or set net in any of the waters of Long Island Sound or in any creek or tributary thereof lying north and west of a line drawn from the southeaste…

Sec. 26-17. Release of fishing or hunting rights. The commissioner, by agreement with the land owner, may cancel any short-term lease of fishing or hunting rights in the event of the sale or transfer of property involved upon the refund to the state of the proportionate amount of…

Sec. 26-170. Use of seine in Norwalk Harbor. No person shall draw a seine with a mesh less than one and one-half inches square in the water known as Norwalk Harbor or in any waters adjacent to said harbor northerly of a line drawn from Sprite Island to a point opposite the mouth …

Sec. 26-171. Taking smelt in Greenwich. No person shall take any smelt in any of the waters of Long Island Sound, or in any river or creek or tributary thereof lying north and east of a line drawn from the southwest end of J. Kennedy Tod's Point to what is known as W. M. Ritch's …