Recent evaluations of physical and behavioral barriers for reducing fish entrainment at hydroelectric plants in the upper Midwest

Abstract

Wisconsin Electric Power Company recognized the need to address fish protection options and commenced a proactive applied research program in the late 1980s. Within a few years, the company began evaluation studies of promising physical and behavioral alternatives. Stone and Webster Environmental Services and Alden Research Laboratory, Inc. played significant roles in identifying and evaluating the alternatives. The results from an evaluation of a barrier net installation at the Pine Hydroelectric Project indicated that the technology was effective in preventing downstream passage of a wide variety of species and sizes of fish, but was not as effective in preventing passage of YOY fish. The results of a separate Electric Power Research Institute tailored collaboration study of sound, strobe light, and air bubble behavioral devices were discouraging. None of the devices, either alone or in combination, were effective in significantly reducing entrainment of native riverine fish species at the White Rapids Hydroelectric Project.