Session A3 - Neptun: the electronic guidance system that effectively manages fish movement in a down and upstream waterway.
Location
UMass Amherst
Event Website
http://fishpassage.ecs.umass.edu/Conference2012/
Start Date
5-6-2012 4:25 PM
End Date
5-6-2012 5:00 PM
Description
The protection of fish communities at man-made facilities and barriers has a long history of significant expenditure of scientific and monetary resources. Beyond creating fishways, considerable investment is made to protect fish by blocking their access to turbines, water intakes, and directing them to less risky areas. Nevertheless, guiding fish to the fish passages, especially in downstream direction still present a big problem. The anticipated success of electrical fish barriers and guidance structures has been limited due to current design limitations. However, a device with a fundamentally new design feature has been successfully deployed in Poland. The device is called "NEPTUN". NEPTUN is an electric-electronic 3-phase barrier, producing a smooth non-uniform pulsed electric field of low voltage. It uses arrays of positive and negative electrodes and gradually increases the intensity of the electric field between the electrodes from positive to negative. Unlike other devices NEPTUN does not stun fish, but affects their neuromuscular system at the informational level, allowing them to escape from the area of the electric field. The basic field installation consists of steel electrodes attached to the river bottom so that they can move from the vertical to an angle of + / - 90 degrees. A buoy attached at the end of the electrode keeps it in an upright position. Groups of electrodes are powered by remotely controlled generators. Specialized software controls the parameters of the electric field, creates statistically-mastered changes, and controls the switching of each group of electrodes. The system supports sensors for monitoring temperature and conductivity of the water which can be used to automatically adjust the properties of the electric field. With an average power input of 0.43 to 0.45 kWh and electricity consumption of 0.0018 kW/m2, "NEPTUN" has a low operating cost. Additionally, the system maintenance is minimal.
Session A3 - Neptun: the electronic guidance system that effectively manages fish movement in a down and upstream waterway.
UMass Amherst
The protection of fish communities at man-made facilities and barriers has a long history of significant expenditure of scientific and monetary resources. Beyond creating fishways, considerable investment is made to protect fish by blocking their access to turbines, water intakes, and directing them to less risky areas. Nevertheless, guiding fish to the fish passages, especially in downstream direction still present a big problem. The anticipated success of electrical fish barriers and guidance structures has been limited due to current design limitations. However, a device with a fundamentally new design feature has been successfully deployed in Poland. The device is called "NEPTUN". NEPTUN is an electric-electronic 3-phase barrier, producing a smooth non-uniform pulsed electric field of low voltage. It uses arrays of positive and negative electrodes and gradually increases the intensity of the electric field between the electrodes from positive to negative. Unlike other devices NEPTUN does not stun fish, but affects their neuromuscular system at the informational level, allowing them to escape from the area of the electric field. The basic field installation consists of steel electrodes attached to the river bottom so that they can move from the vertical to an angle of + / - 90 degrees. A buoy attached at the end of the electrode keeps it in an upright position. Groups of electrodes are powered by remotely controlled generators. Specialized software controls the parameters of the electric field, creates statistically-mastered changes, and controls the switching of each group of electrodes. The system supports sensors for monitoring temperature and conductivity of the water which can be used to automatically adjust the properties of the electric field. With an average power input of 0.43 to 0.45 kWh and electricity consumption of 0.0018 kW/m2, "NEPTUN" has a low operating cost. Additionally, the system maintenance is minimal.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/fishpassage_conference/2012/June5/48
Comments
Dr. Piotr Parasiewicz is a civil and environmental engineer educated on the University of Agricultural Sciences in Vienna. He is an expert in instream flow models, habitat restoration and nature-like fishways. Piotr is a developer of MesoHABSIM (www.MesoHABSIM.org ), a multiscale approach for instream habitat modelling. It is currently used in instream flow management and river restoration and planning across US and in Europe. Among others, the model has been applied for determination of Protected Instream Flow Standards in the State of New Hampshire where it has been adopted as a part of State’s legal framework. Since 1999 in USA, he worked at Cornell University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is currently a director of the Rushing Rivers Institute, a river research non-profit (www.RushingRivers.org) and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Dr. Parasiewicz frequently offers technical advise to the government, non-profits and the industry. Most notably he was appointed by the Government of Austria as a member of Austrian Network for Environmental Research, an expert commission actively participating in development of EU environmental and research policy. In 2006 and 2007 he was appointed as an expert to the Science and Technical Workgroup on Water Flow Regulations for the State of Connecticut. Currently he serves as a technical advisor at the Sustainable Water Initiative of the State of Massachusetts