Should Connecticut get a new state fish?
So says Fred Carstensen, director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, who joked that, considering how much money trout fishing brings in to the state, perhaps a change is in order.
"Instead of the whale, we should make the brown trout the state animal," he said.
Eric Hammerling, though, thinks different.
Carstensen's comments were made at a DEEP conference detailing a 20-year study on the economic viability of state parks and state forests and Hammerling, executive director of the Connecticut Forest and Parks Association, reminded Carstensen that some fish enthusiasts might be a bit miffed.
"I know some fisheries professionals who might take issue with that," Hammerling said.
For the record, the American shad is Connecticut's state fish, as was designated by an act of legislature in 2003. The sperm whale has been the state animal since 1975. And for good measure, we'll let you know that the state shellfish, since 1989, is the Eastern oyster.
Apparently Hammerling agrees with poet Ogden Nash, who said:

I'm sure that Europe never had
A fish as tasty as the shad.
Some men greet the shad with groans
Complaining of its countless bones.
I say the bones teach table poise
And separate the men from boys.