Location

UMass Amherst

Event Website

http://fishpassage.ecs.umass.edu/Conference2012/

Start Date

7-6-2012 1:30 PM

End Date

7-6-2012 1:50 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/riverine fish species. 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 concrete eel diversion structure located at the base of the bar rack, 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 October of 2011, Brookfield evaluated downstream bypass survival of adult (silver phase) American eel. Prior efforts to collect a sufficient number of adult test eels within the Project waters were unsuccessful in 2009 and 2010 due to limited availability. As such, test eels were purchased from a commercial fishery on the Sebasticook River in Newport, ME. A total of 105 eels was injected into the fishway and recaptured in the tailrace using a customized net pen. Of those released, 56 were recaptured (recapture efficiency = 53.8%) and held overnight in the net pen to investigate latent mortality. Following the 15-hour holding period the condition of the test eels were evaluated as Alive or Dead. All 56 test eels were determined to be Alive and exhibited a bypass survival of 100%.

Comments

Bryan Apell is a fisheries and aquatic ecologist with Kleinschmidt Associates. He received a Bachelor's of Science degree in ecology and evolutionary biology with an emphasis on marine ecology and fish biology, from the University of Connecticut in 2004. Mr. Apell joined Kleinschmidt Associates in 2004. Since joining the Kleinschmidt team, Mr. Apell has been involved in a variety of fisheries and aquatic ecological projects including large scale fish passage studies, radio telemetry studies with American eel, shortnose sturgeon, blueback herring, American shad and Atlantic salmon smolts, as well as various habitat/site characterizations and aquatic surveys. He is well versed in physical hydraulic characterization and has experience conducting instream flow studies using incremental methodologies as well using acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) technology to map velocity profiles and analyze data as a tool to investigate fish passage and other hydraulic issues at hydroelectric Projects. In addition, Mr. Apell has helped to establish an Ichthyoplankton Sampling Protocol, and completed plankton identification and quantification in support of impingement and entrainment studies related to section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act. He has been involved in study scoping and development of standard operating procedures as well as sampling systems design and fabrication for both impingement and entrainment studies, and implementing these procedures in the field and laboratory. Mr. Apell is an expert boat handler and has extensive experience utilizing electrofishing techniques essential for fish survey.

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Jun 7th, 1:30 PM Jun 7th, 1:50 PM

Session D5 - Downstream Passage Survival of American Eel 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/riverine fish species. 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 concrete eel diversion structure located at the base of the bar rack, 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 October of 2011, Brookfield evaluated downstream bypass survival of adult (silver phase) American eel. Prior efforts to collect a sufficient number of adult test eels within the Project waters were unsuccessful in 2009 and 2010 due to limited availability. As such, test eels were purchased from a commercial fishery on the Sebasticook River in Newport, ME. A total of 105 eels was injected into the fishway and recaptured in the tailrace using a customized net pen. Of those released, 56 were recaptured (recapture efficiency = 53.8%) and held overnight in the net pen to investigate latent mortality. Following the 15-hour holding period the condition of the test eels were evaluated as Alive or Dead. All 56 test eels were determined to be Alive and exhibited a bypass survival of 100%.

https://scholarworks.umass.edu/fishpassage_conference/2012/June7/15