Development of successful fish passage structures for downstream migrants requires knowledge of their behavioural response to accelerating flow

Fish have evolved intrinsic flight responses, allowing pre-emptive avoidance of potentially threatening situations. To direct downstream migrant fish away from deleterious conditions at dams and other barriers, mechanical devices such as travelling screens and fish bypass systems are often installed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences 2009-12, Vol.66 (12), p.2109-2117
Main Authors: Enders, Eva C, Gessel, Michael H, Williams, John G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal swimming
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Aquatic sciences
Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Chinook salmon
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Creeks & streams
Distribution
Environmental degradation: ecosystems survey and restoration
Exploitation and management of natural biological resources (hunting, fishing and exploited populations survey, etc.)
Fish migration
Fisheries
Fishes
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Migration
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
Salmon
Stream water
Streamflow
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Summary:Fish have evolved intrinsic flight responses, allowing pre-emptive avoidance of potentially threatening situations. To direct downstream migrant fish away from deleterious conditions at dams and other barriers, mechanical devices such as travelling screens and fish bypass systems are often installed. However, field observations suggest that if these structures create areas of rapidly accelerating flow, they do not effectively guide the fish. We studied the avoidance behaviour of actively migrating fall Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) smolts in controlled experiments of low-, medium-, and high-flow accelerations. We measured the response velocity (V R ) and the velocity gradient (VG) over body length. Although V R varied significantly with flow conditions and increased with increasing water temperature, the median VG at the instant at which smolts displayed an avoidance response was similar over the range of accelerating flows tested. Results from this study present the first quantitative information about the avoidance behaviour of fish to flow acceleration and should provide data needed to help engineers and biologists develop effective systems to alleviate anthropogenically altered flow regimes. Furthermore, the devised experimental setup provides a valuable means to test the effects of accelerating flow on any downstream migrant fish species.
ISSN:0706-652X
1205-7533
DOI:10.1139/F09-141