Location

Groningen, The Netherlands

Event Website

http://fishpassage.umass.edu/

Start Date

22-6-2015 2:45 PM

End Date

22-6-2015 3:00 PM

Description

Abstract:

River Mondego is the largest Portuguese river with its basin entirely within national territory. The Açude-Ponte dam was built in Mondego in the 80’s, along with three other large dams to mitigate floods and to allow the integrated use of river basin water resources for hydroelectric power generation, public supply, industry and irrigation.

Considering the river importance for several fish species, namely sea-lamprey and shad, a fishway was constructed. Several structural and hydraulic problems soon revealed that this fishway was inefficient therefore this dam became the first impassable obstacle in the River Mondego. In 2011, after several years of biological and hydraulic monitoring, and once the reasons for the fishway inefficiency were perfectly identified, a vertical-slot fishway was built to restore river connectivity. The efficiency and effectiveness of the Coimbra Fishway has been studied since 2012 using several monitoring techniques (visual counts, biotelemetry techniques and CPUE abundance with electrofishing).

Monitoring results show that several autochthonous species use the fishway, including the diadromous sea-lamprey, allis and twaite shad and European-eel. More than 1,500.000 fish have used the fishway during the upstream or downstream migration. PIT telemetry has shown an efficiency of 30% for Petromyzon marinus and 14% for Luciobarbus bocagei. Pre and post fishway construction electrofishing monitoring shows improvements in sealamprey larvae abundance both upstream and downstream from the Açude-Ponte dam.

Coimbra Fishway project is improving fish migration in River Mondego, but it’s also an integrated project involving other important aspects such as fisheries and river basin management and environmental education. Changes in exploitation regimes of upstream hydropower dams and in the Açude-Ponte are also planned to increase the fishway efficiency. Finally, several activities have been carried out in association with this project to raise public awareness regarding environmental issues, particularly those related with river longitudinal continuity.

Comments

Presenting Author Bio: Ana Telhado is an environmental engineer that works at the Portuguese Environmental Agency, entity responsible for the maintenance and exploration of the dam (açude ponte de Coimbra) and associated fishway

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Jun 22nd, 2:45 PM Jun 22nd, 3:00 PM

Session D2: Coimbra Fishway: Restoring Connectivity in River Mondego

Groningen, The Netherlands

Abstract:

River Mondego is the largest Portuguese river with its basin entirely within national territory. The Açude-Ponte dam was built in Mondego in the 80’s, along with three other large dams to mitigate floods and to allow the integrated use of river basin water resources for hydroelectric power generation, public supply, industry and irrigation.

Considering the river importance for several fish species, namely sea-lamprey and shad, a fishway was constructed. Several structural and hydraulic problems soon revealed that this fishway was inefficient therefore this dam became the first impassable obstacle in the River Mondego. In 2011, after several years of biological and hydraulic monitoring, and once the reasons for the fishway inefficiency were perfectly identified, a vertical-slot fishway was built to restore river connectivity. The efficiency and effectiveness of the Coimbra Fishway has been studied since 2012 using several monitoring techniques (visual counts, biotelemetry techniques and CPUE abundance with electrofishing).

Monitoring results show that several autochthonous species use the fishway, including the diadromous sea-lamprey, allis and twaite shad and European-eel. More than 1,500.000 fish have used the fishway during the upstream or downstream migration. PIT telemetry has shown an efficiency of 30% for Petromyzon marinus and 14% for Luciobarbus bocagei. Pre and post fishway construction electrofishing monitoring shows improvements in sealamprey larvae abundance both upstream and downstream from the Açude-Ponte dam.

Coimbra Fishway project is improving fish migration in River Mondego, but it’s also an integrated project involving other important aspects such as fisheries and river basin management and environmental education. Changes in exploitation regimes of upstream hydropower dams and in the Açude-Ponte are also planned to increase the fishway efficiency. Finally, several activities have been carried out in association with this project to raise public awareness regarding environmental issues, particularly those related with river longitudinal continuity.

https://scholarworks.umass.edu/fishpassage_conference/2015/June22/43