Impacts of Recent Power Plants on the Hudson River Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) Population

Abstract

The impact of the Bowline, Roseton, and Indian Point power plants has been studied by estimating entrainment and impingement mortality rates on striped bass at these plants and relating these mortality rates to reduction in equilibrium stock size under various hypothetical stock-recruitment relationships. The conditional rates of mortality due to entrainment by these three plants were 0.0811 in 1974 and 0.1188 in 1975. The conditional rates of mortality due to impingement were calculated to be 0.0426 in 1974 and 0.0229 in 1975. Based on a range of potential Ricker stock-recruitment curves, reduction in equilibrium stock size due to the estimated levels of power-plant-induced mortality were discussed.