Fish Passage Technologies Protection At Hydropower Facilities

The focus of this report is technologies for fish passage around hydropower generation facilities and protection against entrainment and turbine mortality. Emphasis is given to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-licensed hydropower projects where fish protection is a subject of controversy and congressional interest due to the Federal Power Act (FPA) and the Electric Consumers Protection Act (ECPA). Thus institutional issues related to FERC-relicensing are also discussed. (Major points of controversy are high-lighted in box 1.1).

The focus of this report is technologies for fish passage around hydropower generation facilities and protection against entrainment and turbine mortality. Emphasis is given to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-licensed hydropower projects where fish protection is a subject of controversy and congressional interest due to the Federal Power Act (FPA) and the Electric Consumers Protection Act (ECPA). Thus institutional issues related to FERC-relicensing are also discussed. (Major points of controversy are high-lighted in box 1.1).

Odeh (Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center) presents 13 contributions which explore the technical possibilities of constructing effective fish bypass systems for hydroelectric dams, especially those that are due for relicensing in the context of new regulations. The articles consist of case studies in the effectiveness of such techniques as surface bypass systems, modular inclined screens, hydroacoustic evaluation of fish entrainment patterns, surface collection, surface spill gates, and radio-tagging and radar tracking behavior evaluation strategies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).