Session B8 - Susquehanna American Shad Model (SASM) - A tool for evaluating various restoration measures
Location
UMass Amherst
Event Website
http://fishpassage.ecs.umass.edu/Conference2012/
Start Date
7-6-2012 2:30 PM
End Date
7-6-2012 2:50 PM
Description
American shad restoration efforts in the Susquehanna River face the obstacle of four hydroelectric dams between the river mouth and suitable riverine spawning habitat, resulting in cumulative attenuation of both adult migration to spawning and outmigration of juveniles. A numerical model was developed to examine the effects of potential restoration measures on the spawning population. Adjustable parameters in the model include upstream and downstream passage rates at each dam, sex ratio, spawning age structure (including repeat spawning), upstream trap and transport, and juvenile stocking. Future recruitment is based on the number of females reaching upstream spawning habitat. Under the assumption that only fish reared upstream will return there to spawn, existing data were used to calibrate the model to a good approximation of adult returns to Conowingo Dam over past thirty years, suggesting that the trends observed over that period are consistent with known numbers for volitional passage, trucked adults, and stocked juveniles. The model will be used to evaluate potential restoration measures.
Session B8 - Susquehanna American Shad Model (SASM) - A tool for evaluating various restoration measures
UMass Amherst
American shad restoration efforts in the Susquehanna River face the obstacle of four hydroelectric dams between the river mouth and suitable riverine spawning habitat, resulting in cumulative attenuation of both adult migration to spawning and outmigration of juveniles. A numerical model was developed to examine the effects of potential restoration measures on the spawning population. Adjustable parameters in the model include upstream and downstream passage rates at each dam, sex ratio, spawning age structure (including repeat spawning), upstream trap and transport, and juvenile stocking. Future recruitment is based on the number of females reaching upstream spawning habitat. Under the assumption that only fish reared upstream will return there to spawn, existing data were used to calibrate the model to a good approximation of adult returns to Conowingo Dam over past thirty years, suggesting that the trends observed over that period are consistent with known numbers for volitional passage, trucked adults, and stocked juveniles. The model will be used to evaluate potential restoration measures.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/fishpassage_conference/2012/June7/22
Comments
Tim Brush has been involved in diadromous fish restoration and biology since 1983. He has worked extensively with American shad and river herring, American eel, Atlantic salmon, shortnose sturgeon, and various Pacific salmonids. Most of his work has been in the Susquehanna, Connecticut, Santee-Cooper, Willamette, and Clackamas basins.