The Guilford Lakes area in Guilford, Connecticut represents a prime opportunity to install an innovative, "nature-like" fishway on the eastern spillway of the lakes. The overriding objective for the project is to restore passage to spawning grounds in the Lower Guilford Lake for several anadromous fish species. A working fish passage should be created while maintaining the aesthetics of the Guilford Lakes area, the integrity of the stream ecosystem, and the recreational values of the Guilford Lakes. Finally, the design should be technically sound, minimize financial costs, incorporate aesthetic components of the site, and maximize aquatic habitat value and passage efficiency.

Under the preferred alternative, the four-foot bedrock ledge within the eastern channel will be modified with a rock ramp fishway, allowing the passage of river herring and other fish, by granting access to the base of the eastern spillway. Then, with some minor additional channel grading, the eastern spillway will be passable by all fish species when its stop-logs are not in place (during the non-recreational use months of the lake) and will be made passable when the stop-logs are in place with the construction of a small, single length, Alaskan Steep-pass fishway. The existing channel will also be modified as needed to ensure that a defined thalweg is present to facilitate efficient fish passage. This naturalistic approach to fish passage will greatly reduce cost as compared to using the originally designed larger fish ladder alternative on the western spillway.