Session A5- Downstream passage survival of resident fish species at the school street hydroelectric project Cohoes, NY
Location
UMass Amherst
Start Date
28-6-2011 2:15 PM
End Date
28-6-2011 2:35 PM
Description
The School Street Hydroelectric Project (Project) (FERC No. 2539) is owned and operated by Brookfield Renewable Power (Brookfield). The Project is located in Cohoes, New York, on the Mohawk River, approximately 2.5 river miles upstream from its confluence with the Hudson River. The Project was issued a new FERC License in 2007, which required downstream fish passage for anadromous and catadromous fish, as well as resident fish. The construction of the downstream fishway was completed in the summer of 2009 and included; an angled bar rack ·with one inch clear spacing and a fish conveyance system with; two entrance locations, surface and bottom gates, a collection chamber, an overflow weir and a final discharge pipe that descends 90 feet in elevation. In late summer 2009, Brookfield evaluated bypass survival of resident fish species. The evaluation consisted of a mark-recapture study using a customized net pen. A series of five mark-recapture tests were conducted. Overall, 284 fish were used in the evaluation and represented a cross section of the resident fish community. A total of 220 test fish were injected into the fishway and recaptured in a customized net pen located in the fishway discharge. The net pen was designed to minimize recapture-related mortality and a control group consisting of 64 fish was established to quantify recapture-related mortality. The test fish were held for a minimum of eight hours to account for latent mortality and evaluated as alive or dead. The test fish were grouped into five body type classes and included; anguilliforme, centrarchid, percid, salmonid and soft-rayed, as well as large and small size classes. Survival was generally high (93.6%) across all of the groups and size classes. Anguilliformes, soft-rayed fish and large sized centrarchids exhibited the greatest survival (100%).
Session A5- Downstream passage survival of resident fish species at the school street hydroelectric project Cohoes, NY
UMass Amherst
The School Street Hydroelectric Project (Project) (FERC No. 2539) is owned and operated by Brookfield Renewable Power (Brookfield). The Project is located in Cohoes, New York, on the Mohawk River, approximately 2.5 river miles upstream from its confluence with the Hudson River. The Project was issued a new FERC License in 2007, which required downstream fish passage for anadromous and catadromous fish, as well as resident fish. The construction of the downstream fishway was completed in the summer of 2009 and included; an angled bar rack ·with one inch clear spacing and a fish conveyance system with; two entrance locations, surface and bottom gates, a collection chamber, an overflow weir and a final discharge pipe that descends 90 feet in elevation. In late summer 2009, Brookfield evaluated bypass survival of resident fish species. The evaluation consisted of a mark-recapture study using a customized net pen. A series of five mark-recapture tests were conducted. Overall, 284 fish were used in the evaluation and represented a cross section of the resident fish community. A total of 220 test fish were injected into the fishway and recaptured in a customized net pen located in the fishway discharge. The net pen was designed to minimize recapture-related mortality and a control group consisting of 64 fish was established to quantify recapture-related mortality. The test fish were held for a minimum of eight hours to account for latent mortality and evaluated as alive or dead. The test fish were grouped into five body type classes and included; anguilliforme, centrarchid, percid, salmonid and soft-rayed, as well as large and small size classes. Survival was generally high (93.6%) across all of the groups and size classes. Anguilliformes, soft-rayed fish and large sized centrarchids exhibited the greatest survival (100%).
Comments
Bryan ApeII is a scientist with Kleinschmidt Associates. He received a bachelor’s of science degree in ecology and evolutionary biology with course work in marine ecology and fish biology, from the University of Connecticut in 2004. Since joining Kleinschmidt in 2004, Mr. Apell has been involved in a variety of fisheries and aquatic studies, including large scale radio telemetry studies with American eel, shortnose sturgeon, American shad and Atlantic salmon smolts, as well as many electrofishing surveys, habitat characterizations, and other aquatic surveys.