Rainbow Trout Migration and Use of a Nature‐Like Fishway at a Great Lakes Tributary

Abstract

Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss were monitored over two consecutive vernal migration periods at a nature‐like fishway on the Beaver River, Ontario, to assess attraction efficiency, passage efficiency, multiple fish passage metrics, and interannual return rates from Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. Fishway evaluations have shifted to fill knowledge gaps related to the passage of nonsalmonids; however, surprisingly little work has been conducted with Rainbow Trout, with no known study assessing attraction or passage at a nature‐like fishway. Attraction efficiency was 53% and passage efficiency was 100% in 2017; only two of the radio‐tagged fish returned to the fishway in 2018. Upstream passage through the fishway required an average time of 152 ± 122 min. Fish spent 19–43 d upstream before returning to Lake Huron, where downstream passage required as little as 15 min. Overall, there were no significant relationships between any of the fish passage metrics and fish size or condition. These results can be used as a foundation for anadromous O. mykiss subspecies passage research and suggest that fisheries managers may need to adjust annual fishway counts. Future research should focus on developing methods to directly integrate temporal passage metrics into estimates of fishway efficiency.

Attraction and passage efficiency for salmonids and non‐salmonids based on fishway: A meta‐analysis approach

“…However, under natural conditions, fishway designs differ significantly. These designs include: resting pools and turning sections with various degrees in VS fishways, weirs with submerged notches or underwater orifices in PW fishways, size and distribution of rocks in NL fishways, more than one entrance and exit in some fishways, and fishways with more than one type (e.g., Bravo‐Cordoba, Sanz‐Ronda, Ruiz‐Legazpi, Celestino, et al, 2018; Bunt & Jacobson, 2019; Burnett et al, 2014; Gowans et al, 1999; Lundqvist et al, 2008; Naughton et al, 2007; Steffensen et al, 2013); (2) all fishes in the 64 studies were classified into salmonids and non‐salmonids according to their swimming capability, whereas the relationships between other factors (e.g., habitat preferences, fish physiology, and biochemistry) between salmonids and non‐salmonids have not been established well (Kemp, 2016).…”

“…Moreover, an individual-based model, combined with the Lagrangian and Eulerian frameworks, can illustrate the interaction between the fish behavior and hydrodynamics conditions, which is closely related to the indicator of energy consumption of fish (Goodwin et al, 2006(Goodwin et al, , 2014. The evidence suggests that fishes use more energy while migrating through high turbulent kinetic energy zones, which can reduce passage success since fatigued fish are less likely to cross the zone (Guiny et al, 2005;Liu et al, 2006;Tan et al, 2022) Celestino, et al, 2018;Bunt & Jacobson, 2019;Burnett et al, 2014;Gowans et al, 1999;Lundqvist et al, 2008;Naughton et al, 2007;Steffensen et al, 2013);…”

Verkenning m.b.t. onderwatercamerasystemen annex analysesoftware voor (zoetwater)vismonitoring

“…In Scandinavië, Canada, Duitsland, Oostenrijk, Engeland en Zwitserland wordt gebruik gemaakt van diverse technieken zoals VAKI, BRAVO, Simsonar (UVC en FC), WSP, DIDSON/ARIS en fishcounter (Skynordic) om passages te monitoren (Sonny and Brunet 2015, Bunt 2016, Haas et al 2018, Sutela et al 2018, Bunt and Jacobson 2019. Veelal worden de beelden ook publiek gedeeld (o.a.…”

Adfluvial migration and passage of Steelhead before and after dam removal at a major Great Lakes tributary

“…Despite the economic importance of this species within the Great Lakes and surrounding watersheds, surprisingly very little published research has focused on understanding adfluvial Steelhead migration timing or dam passage performance. The limited studies that have investigated dam passage through fish passage structures have calculated Steelhead attraction and passage efficiencies as 58% and 25%, respectively, at a vertical slot fishway on a tributary of Lake Ontario (115 PIT-tagged fish; Pratt et al, 2009) and 53% and 100%, respectively, at a naturelike fishway on a tributary of Georgian Bay in Lake Huron (30 radio-tagged fish; Bunt and Jacobson, 2019).…”