Location
Agriculture Production Theater, Oregon State University
Start Date
26-6-2013 3:10 PM
End Date
26-6-2013 3:30 PM
Description
Cemig (Power Company of Minas Gerais State) is one of the biggest power companies in Brazil with 59 hydropower plants in Minas Gerais State, southeast of the country. The rivers were those power plants are installed have a great diversity of migratory fish species. Those species have an upstream migration pattern during the rainy season to reach spawning areas. During this season, those fishes can enter the draft tube of the plants and get trapped when stop-log panels get down or reach the turbine even when it is spinning in normal operation. These impacts can cause massive fish kill in Brazilian rivers. To prevent those impacts, Cemig has developed a series of projects and actions to evaluate risks and take actions to reduce direct impact of hydropower plants on native fishes. The first step was data gathering. We surveyed historical data about the impacts of hydropower plants on fish that showed which species were more affected by the impacts, when the impacts concentrated along the year and the most common power plants operations that caused fish kills. With those results in hands, we proposed a methodology that consisted mainly in: creating specific work instructions that guaranteed that procedure during maintenance for each hydropower plant did not harm fish; collect and analyses fish samples before the maintenance of turbines to assess its potential risk; and developing partnership with universities to conduce applied research on native fishes. The methodology to reduce fish mortality seem efficient since its implementation and has reduced direct fish kills at Cemig’s hydropower plants from an average 592 kg fish/month to an average of 127,65 kg fish/month. The impact reduction has occurred mainly during maintenance operations when the risk assessment methodology is more effective.
Concurrent Sessions B: Fish Passage in South America: Paulo dos Santos - Developing a New Approach on Brazilian Hydroelectric Sector to Deal with Migratory Fish Conservation
Agriculture Production Theater, Oregon State University
Cemig (Power Company of Minas Gerais State) is one of the biggest power companies in Brazil with 59 hydropower plants in Minas Gerais State, southeast of the country. The rivers were those power plants are installed have a great diversity of migratory fish species. Those species have an upstream migration pattern during the rainy season to reach spawning areas. During this season, those fishes can enter the draft tube of the plants and get trapped when stop-log panels get down or reach the turbine even when it is spinning in normal operation. These impacts can cause massive fish kill in Brazilian rivers. To prevent those impacts, Cemig has developed a series of projects and actions to evaluate risks and take actions to reduce direct impact of hydropower plants on native fishes. The first step was data gathering. We surveyed historical data about the impacts of hydropower plants on fish that showed which species were more affected by the impacts, when the impacts concentrated along the year and the most common power plants operations that caused fish kills. With those results in hands, we proposed a methodology that consisted mainly in: creating specific work instructions that guaranteed that procedure during maintenance for each hydropower plant did not harm fish; collect and analyses fish samples before the maintenance of turbines to assess its potential risk; and developing partnership with universities to conduce applied research on native fishes. The methodology to reduce fish mortality seem efficient since its implementation and has reduced direct fish kills at Cemig’s hydropower plants from an average 592 kg fish/month to an average of 127,65 kg fish/month. The impact reduction has occurred mainly during maintenance operations when the risk assessment methodology is more effective.
Comments
João de Magalhães Lopes graduated Biology and has an ecology master’s degree from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. His field is mainly fish conservation projects. He works for the fish conservation team of Cemig –Power Company of Minas Gerais State and is PHD Student at Lavras Federal University.