Fish Passage & Recent Projects

Fish passage facilities otherwise known as fishways, fish ladders, fish bypass channels and fish lifts are all designed to allow fish to move upstream over barriers that would otherwise interfere with migration. We can recommend optimal designs and locations for these useful river restoration tools to suit site-specific and species-specific requirements. We can develop strategies and plans that allow passage of target species, while blocking passage of undesirable species such as sea lampreys and carp. We also monitor fish movements, activity and behaviour at migration barriers and we can help enhance fish passage at new and existing structures.

• Fish passage in South America (Brazil)

• Video Image Analysis to Count Fish in Fishways with Real Time Data Streaming

• Meta-Analysis of  Fish Passage Performance Data at Upstream Barriers to Migration

• Springbank Dam Post-Construction Fish Movement Monitoring - Year 3

• Multi-species PIT Telemetry And Long-Term Fishway Evaluations

• Saugeen River Fish Passage Study - Maple Hill Dam Fishway - Rainbow Trout

• Saugeen River Turbine Impact Evaluation - Brown Trout

• Springbank Dam Post-Construction Fish Movement Monitoring - Year 2

• Springbank Dam Post-Construction Fish Passage Monitoring - Year 1

• Black Redhorse Spawning, Ontogenetic Development, Habitat Use and Movement

• Blue Sucker Migration - 3 Years In Texas

• Sea Lamprey Telemetry - Noise And Range Tests

• Long-term Pike Movement And Barrier Passage

• Chemical Barriers To Fish Movement (Sulphur Springs)

• Springbank Dam Baseline Fish Movement

• Annual Northern Pike Lift And Monitoring

• Mannheim Fishway  

• Fishway Enhancement

• Dunnville Fishway Project

• Walleye Passage

• EMG Telemetry Studies

• Northern Pike Passage At Bypass Channels

• Welland River Fish Movement, Barrier Passage And Habitat Use

• Fish Movement Related To River Flow Reversal

• Effects Of Increased Silt Load On Rock Bass

Since 1994, we have carried out several investigations of fishways, as well as behavioural and physiological assessments of dam impacts on warmwater fish. Other work includes biotelemetry, habitat surveys, habitat use relative to habitat availability, effects of fishing tournaments on fish, ecological studies related to freshwater and marine fishes and other aquatic and terrestrial species of interest to biologists, ecologists, fisheries managers, regulatory agencies and environmental groups worldwide. Click on these examples:

Selected Telemetry & Monitoring Projects

• Movement Of White Suckers, Shorthead Redhorse and Smallmouth Bass In The Thames River

• Endangered Species Habitat And Movement - Spotted Gar

• Cutthroat Trout, Bull Trout And Other Coldwater Fishes -  Live Underwater Monitoring Link

• Archived Underwater Video From The Grand River, ON - BRAVO Node 1

• Live Streaming Underwater Video, Temperature And Telemetry - BRAVO Node 1

• Fish Passage Monitoring In The Welland River - Northern Pike Telemetry

• Great Barrier Reef Fish Telemetry, Australia - Coral Trout 

• St. Lawrence River Telemetry - American Eels

• Grand River Telemetry Studies - Smallmouth Bass, Greater Redhorse

• Kananaskis River Regulation Impacts - Brown Trout, Brook Trout

• Grand River Ecology And Fish Migration - Greater Redhorse

• Lower Colorado River Telemetry - Blue Suckers

• Lake Mead Telemetry - Razorback Suckers

• Real-time Streaming Video Monitoring - Wavy-Rayed Lampmussels

• QUBS (Queens University Biological Station) LIVE Underwater Video And Temperature Streaming And Monitoring

• Underwater Coldwater Fish Monitoring - (Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, Bull Trout) LIVE streaming Cameras In Montana USA

Fishway Studies

• Video and Image Processing-Based Fish Counting and Species Identification Systems for Fishways

• Meta-Analysis of  Fish Passage Performance Data at Upstream Barriers to Migration

• Fishway Evaluations:  Past, Present and Future - AFS Presentation 2009 (Powerpoint)

• LIVE Streaming Video From Inside A Denil Fishway In Ontario

• Fish Swimming Behaviour and Movement In Turbulent Flows

• Fish Passage Monitoring In the Welland River - Northern Pike Telemetry

• Mannheim Fishway Project- Attraction and Passage Efficiency - Smallmouth Bass, White Suckers

• Fishway Utilization Patterns And Passage Related To Seasonal, Thermal And Hydraulic Dynamics

• Dunnville Fishway Project - Walleye

• Fishway Modifications To Improve Attraction And Passage Of Warmwater Species

• Fishway Design, Configuration And Placement For Optimal Passage - Walleye

• EMG Telemetry Studies - Physical Output During Fishway Use - Smallmouth Bass

Fish and Aquatic Ecology

• Habitat Utilization, Movement and Use of Groundwater - Black Redhorse

• Welland River and Oswego Creek Fish Inventory and Movement Study

• Groundwater and Species at Risk - Black Redhorse and Greater Redhorse

• Thermally Regulated Fish Hatchery - Black Redhorse

• Underwater Video Comparison Of Multi-Species Spawning Behaviour: Catostomidae

• Black Redhorse Ontogeny, Larval Development And Habitat Preferences

• Monitoring and Recording Interactions Between Fish and Wavy-Rayed Lampmussels

• Live streaming Video, Temperature And Telemetry - BRAVO Node 1

• Grand River Dam Impacts - Darters

• Creation Of Spawning Habitat And Recreational Angling Areas from Restored Gravel Pit Complexes

• Fish Passage Monitoring In the Welland River - Northern Pike Telemetry

• Greater Redhorse Ontogenetic Development

• Reproductive Behaviour And Snout Vibrations (VIDEO) Of Greater Redhorse Suckers