This report describes tests conducted at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in the spring of 2000. The studies used three-dimensional (3D) acoustic telemetry and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) hydraulic modeling techniques to evaluate the response of outmigrating juvenile steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and yearling chinook (O. tshawytscha) to the Prototype Surface Collector (PSC) installed at Powerhouse I of Bonneville Dam in 1998 to test the concept of using a deep-slot surface bypass collector to divert downstream migrating salmon from turbines. The study was conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the Waterways Experiment Station of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (COE), Asci Corporation, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and was sponsored by COE’s Portland District. The goal of the study was to observe the three-dimensional behavior of tagged fish (fish bearing ultrasonic micro-transmitters) within 100 meters (m) of the surface flow bypass structure to test hypotheses about the response of migrants to flow stimuli generated by the presence of the surface flow bypass prototype and its operation. Research was done in parallel with radio telemetry studies conducted by USGS and hydroacoustic studies conducted by WES & Asci to evaluate the prototype surface collector.
