Session D2 - Use of 3D Acoustic Telemetry to Monitor Upstream Passage of American Shad on the Merrimack River in Massachusetts

Transcription

1 University of Massachusetts - Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst International Conference on Engineering and Ecohydrology for Fish Passage International Conference on Engineering and Ecohydrology for Fish Passage 2012 Jun 5th, 1:30 PM - 1:50 PM Session D2 - Use of 3D Acoustic Telemetry to Monitor Upstream Passage of American Shad on the Merrimack River in Massachusetts Timothy Hogan Alden Research Laboratory Follow this and additional works at: Hogan, Timothy, "Session D2 - Use of 3D Acoustic Telemetry to Monitor Upstream Passage of American Shad on the Merrimack River in Massachusetts" (2012). International Conference on Engineering and Ecohydrology for Fish Passage This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the The Fish Passage Community at UMass Amherst at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Conference on Engineering and Ecohydrology for Fish Passage by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact scholarworks@library.umass.edu.

2 Use of 3D Acoustic Telemetry to Monitor Upstream Passage of American Shad on the Merrimack River in Massachusetts Timothy Hogan, Alden Corey Wright, Blue Leaf Environmental Skip Medford, Enel Green Power North America, Inc. ALDEN

3 Outline Introduction Background Objectives Site Description Methods Results Discussion

4 Introduction Merrimack River Anadromous Fish Committee Technical Committee for Anadromous Fishery Management of the Merrimack River Basin Goal is to restore a natural shad run to Merrimack by providing unrestricted access to spawning and rearing habitat Targets successful passage at the two downstream-most barriers (Lawrence and Lowell) Upstream passage is good Upstream passage is poor ~ 16% of the fish that pass Lawrence

5 Background Sprankle et al Radiotelemetry study Objectives were to: determine how many Lawrencepassed fish reach Lowell tailrace monitor fish behavior between Lawrence and Lowell tailrace Provided presence/absence in tailrace and approximate distance from lift entrance Did not generate detailed fish behavior in tailrace

6 Objectives Further define impediments to upstream passage at Lowell Qualitative Detailed 3D fish behavior in tailrace General swimming patterns Quantitative Passage efficiency Spatial use of tailrace Tailrace residence time Number of shad entering lift entrance

7 Site Description Atlantic Ocean Pawtucket Dam Lowell rkm 70 Essex Dam Lawrence rkm 48

8 Site Description Fishway Entrances Powerhouse wall Street-side entrance River-side entrance

9 Site Description Tailrace Flow

10 Materials and Methods Equipment HTI 3D acoustic telemetry system Model 795LD tags 6.8 mm diameter 20 mm long 1.1 g in air Model 590 hydrophones Model 290 acoustic tag receiver

11 Materials and Methods Lawrence 3 hydrophones to detect fallback and time of departure from Lawrence Lowell 16 hydrophones in tailrace and fishway channel Surface Bottom

12 Materials and Methods Fish Shad dipnetted from Lawrence fish lift hopper Tags gastrically implanted Shad sexed and measured for length Shad recovered overnight (~12 hrs) in fishway channel 2 releases of 30 fish each = 60 fish total

13 Flow (cfs) Water Temperature (Celsius) Results Flow Mean river flow of 6,157 cfs (ranged from 13,986 to 3,174 cfs) Mean project flow of 4,493 cfs Merrimack Rver Flow at Lowell Lowell Project Flow Bypassed Reach Flow Water Temperature Study Period Estimated attraction flow between 65 and 115 cfs Date

14 5/2/2011 5/6/2011 5/10/2011 5/14/2011 5/18/2011 5/22/2011 5/26/2011 5/30/2011 6/3/2011 6/7/2011 6/11/2011 6/15/2011 6/19/2011 6/23/2011 6/27/2011 7/1/2011 7/5/2011 7/9/2011 7/13/2011 Number of Shad Passed River Flow (cfs) Release 1 Release 2 Results General 25 days of tracking 28 males, 32 females 1400 Shad Passed at Lawrence 30,000 Mean length = 493 mm (454 mm and 527 mm ) Shad Passed at Lowell River Flow 25,000 20,000 Two release groups of , tag regurgitations 1 tag failure ,000 5,000 3D Tracking hrs of data Date 7.5 million detections

15 Results 49 tagged shad were considered viable for this study 57% of viable shad reached Lowell tailrace 2 viable shad successfully lifted during study Detected in Tag failure Regurg Detected in Lawrence forebay Lawrence tailrace (fallback) Detected in Lowell tailrace Release # % of % of % of viable % of viable % of viable date tagged N released N released N tags a N tags a N tags a 5/27/ % 3 10% % 0 0% 16 59% 6/9/ % 7 23% % 1 5% 12 55% Combined % 10 17% % 1 2% 28 57% a Viable tags = total number released - (number of tag failures + number of regurgitations)

16 Results 3.1 days mean travel time Lawrence to Lowell Differences by sex 1.9 days 4.2 days Differences by release date 4.2 days for May 27 group (higher river flow) 1.7 days for June 9 group (lower river flow) 9.3 hrs mean residence time in Lowell tailrace 6 unique entrances (mean) into Lowell tailrace 5.2 days mean travel time Lowell to Lawrence

17 Graphics Descriptions Bin Density Tailrace divided into 10-ft x 10-ft cells % of tagged shad detected in each bin is depicted Represents use of space by tagged shad Density of 3D Tracks Represents the density of 3D positions of all tagged shad incorporates a temporal component Potential to be skewed by individual fish

18 Results Bin Density of 3D Positions 60% of tagged shad were detected in these cells 100% of tagged shad were detected in these cells

19 Results Density of 3D Tracks Tagged shad were detected most frequently in the horseshoe

20 Results Males vs. Females Males Females Feet Feet

21 Results Low Flow Bin Density High Flow Bin Density Feet Feet Low Flow Density of Tracks High Flow Density of Tracks Less Dense More Dense Less Dense More Dense Feet Feet

22 Conclusions and Recommendations Conclusions Shad prefer edges of tailrace = horseshoe pattern Passage in 2011 better than 2010, but still low Tailrace flow field is complex Attraction flow quantity and quality are important Recommendations Evaluate alternative fishway entrance locations based on areas that shad were detected Quantify attraction flow; ensure proper flow rate Avoid plunging flow

23 Questions? Tim Hogan Alden (508)