Fish Passage Research to Identify the Ideal Fishway Entrance for River Herring (Alosa spp)
USGS is working to identify an improved fishway entrance design for two at-risk species, blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) and alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus).
What is the issue?
River herring have experienced dramatic population declines due to combined pressures of climate change, bycatch, habitat loss, dams, and other stream barriers.
What is at stake?
Population declines in fish species of concern will continue if we do not work on ways to restore them. Improving fishway entrance design can help restore these species through assessment, research, habitat connectivity and fish passage. Scientific enhancement of fishway technology naturally progresses from a laboratory setting to field implementation where the integration of engineering design and fish behavior can be measured in their natural habitat. Subsequent research at dams and other stream barriers further enables adaptive management to optimize passage efficiency on site. Fishways at barriers such as hydroelectric stations channelize, by necessity, all fish movement past the hazards of turbine intakes; thus, they also establish convenient locations for the monitoring of fish migrations and assessment of fish populations that migrate between fresh water and salt water. These monitoring and assessment opportunities provide decision-makers with critical data that informs both fisheries management plans and larger efforts to restore habitat connectivity on a watershed scale.
What is our approach?
USGS will study the integration of entrance hydraulics with shad and river herring (alosine) behavior in a fish passage structure at the Eastern Ecological Science Center’s S.O. Conte Research Laboratory in Turners Falls, Massachusetts. This unique facility provides space for models, full-size structures, and testing with alosine species. Through hydraulic modeling and experiments with live, actively migrating river herring collected within the Connecticut River watershed, this study will seek to determine the ideal depths, widths, and aspects for entrances. Entrance designs will be evaluated for their effect on attraction efficiency, entry rates, and passage efficiency through a Denil ladder, a common fishway on the East Coast.
What are the benefits?
An improved entrance design would enhance future fishway construction and allow stakeholders to add components to existing fishways to increase passage. Such enhancements could dramatically increase the total fishway capacity in the Northeast Region and aid restoration efforts for species of concern.
Evaluation and Development of Fish Passage Structures and Technologies
Fish Passage Design and Analysis at the S.O. Conte Research Laboratory
Development and Evaluation of the Novel East Coast Fish Ladder
Fish Passage Design and Analysis at the S.O. Conte Research Laboratory
Evaluation and Development of Fish Passage Structures and Technologies
USGS is working to identify an improved fishway entrance design for two at-risk species, blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) and alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus).
What is the issue?
River herring have experienced dramatic population declines due to combined pressures of climate change, bycatch, habitat loss, dams, and other stream barriers.
What is at stake?
Population declines in fish species of concern will continue if we do not work on ways to restore them. Improving fishway entrance design can help restore these species through assessment, research, habitat connectivity and fish passage. Scientific enhancement of fishway technology naturally progresses from a laboratory setting to field implementation where the integration of engineering design and fish behavior can be measured in their natural habitat. Subsequent research at dams and other stream barriers further enables adaptive management to optimize passage efficiency on site. Fishways at barriers such as hydroelectric stations channelize, by necessity, all fish movement past the hazards of turbine intakes; thus, they also establish convenient locations for the monitoring of fish migrations and assessment of fish populations that migrate between fresh water and salt water. These monitoring and assessment opportunities provide decision-makers with critical data that informs both fisheries management plans and larger efforts to restore habitat connectivity on a watershed scale.
What is our approach?
USGS will study the integration of entrance hydraulics with shad and river herring (alosine) behavior in a fish passage structure at the Eastern Ecological Science Center’s S.O. Conte Research Laboratory in Turners Falls, Massachusetts. This unique facility provides space for models, full-size structures, and testing with alosine species. Through hydraulic modeling and experiments with live, actively migrating river herring collected within the Connecticut River watershed, this study will seek to determine the ideal depths, widths, and aspects for entrances. Entrance designs will be evaluated for their effect on attraction efficiency, entry rates, and passage efficiency through a Denil ladder, a common fishway on the East Coast.
What are the benefits?
An improved entrance design would enhance future fishway construction and allow stakeholders to add components to existing fishways to increase passage. Such enhancements could dramatically increase the total fishway capacity in the Northeast Region and aid restoration efforts for species of concern.