Movement of Radio-Tagged Adult Pacific Lampreys during a Large-Scale Fishway Velocity Experiment

Abstract
Optimization of fishways to pass multiple species is challenging because life history, swimming ability, and behavior often differ among species. For example, high fishway water velocities designed to attract adult Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. at Columbia River dams inhibit fishway entrance and passage success of adult Pacific lampreys Lampetra tridentata, a species of conservation concern. We tested whether reduced water velocities (∼1.2 m/s, 0.15 m of head) at Bonneville Dam fishway openings improved entrance efficiency and other passage metrics for radio-tagged Pacific lampreys compared with control velocities (>1.98 m/s, 0.46 m of head) and near-zero (“standby”) velocities. Lamprey entrance efficiencies were significantly higher in the reduced-velocity treatment (26–29%) than in the control (13–20%) or standby (5–9%) treatment. In some years, significantly more Pacific lampreys passed through fishway collection channels and transition pools and reached the fish ladder during reduced-velocity treatment conditions, indicating that benefits extended beyond fishway entrances. However, overall passage efficiency at the dam was relatively unchanged, suggesting that additional passage bottlenecks for Pacific lampreys exist upstream from fishway entrances. The experiment demonstrated how operational changes can improve passage performance and how exploiting behavioral differences among species can improve multispecies management.

PUBLICATION AVAILABLE AT: https://www.lotek.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Johnson-et-al.-2012-Pacific-lamprey-velocity-experiment.pdf