Sneaker, Dweller and Commuter: Evaluating Fish Behavior in Net-Based Monitoring at Hydropower Plants—A Case Study on Brown Trout (Salmo trutta)

Abstract

Monitoring of fish passage at hydropower plants largely relies on stow-fyke-net captures installed downstream of turbine outlets, yet little is known about which fish behavior contributes to reduced catch efficiency. We studied fish-net interactions as well as biological and physical factors potentially influencing behavior in three experiments: (i) fall-through experiment, to measure the general physical ability of a fish to fit through a certain mesh size; (ii) net-perception experiment, where fish were filmed while being exposed to different mesh sizes, flow and lure conditions in a controlled arena setup; and (iii) stow-fyke-net experiment, where fish behavior was recorded using 20 cameras simultaneously inside a stow net during regular hydropower fish monitoring. In total, we analyzed 382 h of video recordings. The material revealed that fish interacted with the net on a high rate, independent of flow conditions, and tried to swim through the mesh regardless of whether their body fits through. Under field conditions, the fish showed three specific behavioral patterns, “sneaking,” “dwelling” and “commuting,” which led to a reduced recapture rate in the catch unit of the stow-fyke net. This study highlights the importance of considering fish behavior in future fish monitoring programs to improve the accuracy of turbine-effect assessments on fish.