Induced fish movement over lowhead dams

Description

The overall objective of this project is to evaluate fish passage the Cape Fear River in response to environmental flows through telemetry. Specifically, this work will evaluate passage of American Shad Alosa sapidissima and Striped Bass Morone saxatilis at lock and dams 2 and 3 on the Cape Fear River during periods of elevated river discharge generated by water releases from Jordan Dam. These timed releases will simulate natural spring flood conditions during the spring diadromous fish spawning season and will, potentially, submerge low-head lock and dam structures 2 and 3 on the Cape Fear River, allowing for diadromous fish to pass upstream, reaching historical spawning grounds. This project will involve close collaboration with colleagues at Auburn University and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who have been investigating fish passage at low-use lock and dam structures on the Alabama River. Using similar acoustic telemetry techniques to those previously implemented by Auburn University on the Alabama River, this project will expand our knowledge of fish passage to different species, systems, and passage structures. Working along the Atlantic Slope, in the Cape Fear River, this project will quantify passage efficiency of American Shad and Striped Bass as they approach and attempt passage at lock and dams 2 and 3 on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. Lock and dams 2 and 3 are historical water control structures that are no longer operated for commercial vessels. In recent years, diadromous fish could pass these structures during conservation locking, when the locks were operated solely for fish passage during spring spawning migrations. Continued deterioration of these historical locks now limits their ability to operate for fish passage. During spring of 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy will implement recently developed environmental flow regimens on the Cape Fear. These environmental flows aim to simulate historical spring floods on the Cape Fear, with the goal of submerging locks and dams 2 and 3, which would allow for fish to pass over the locks and dams during spawning migrations. Brief Description of Anticipated Work: Objectives of this work include: 1) quantify the timing of arrival, movement patterns, and passage success of diadromous fish at lock and dams 2 and 3 on the Cape Fear River, NC, 2) relate movement patterns and passage success to flow measurements to identify if environmental flows alter fish movement and passage success at lock and dams 2 and 3, 3) determine if individual (i.e., size, sex, condition) interact with environmental conditions (i.e., flow, temperature) to influence passage success.

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