Why is fish passage important?

1. Why is fish passage important? • Migration for spawning • Movement for survival, temperatures, flows, available food and cover • Prevent population fragmentation • Avoid predators • After a catastrophic event, recolonization • Meet life requirements in an energy efficient way.

2. Context for TRANS TRANS projects are ‘linearly based’ with the occasional exception of building reservoirs and canals. TRANS is not large land scale developers.

3. We don’t do this type of development:

4. Rather we are focused on roads and bridges as part of the provincial highway network.

5. And we’d rather avoid this:

7. And fish really don’t do this

8. Or this.

9. Or not in this continent - walk

10. So that fish don’t have to walk or bicycle we’d rather create this: embedded (fish friendly) crossings

11. But back to the impacts TRANS has on fish movement Remember we are linear developers Most often, TRANS influences fish movement through habitat fragmentation not habitat itself.

13. Also remember that TRANS cannot tell crossing owners that may be hindering fish passage further up the watershed. We have no authority to do so and very often we are asked for funding – and we don’t have the $$$$ nor does our mandate allow us to.

14. And now to a different subject Biology Basics (as they relate to fish passage).

15. "Fishes are the evolutionary solution to a number of mechanical, aural, optical, structural, electrical and other engineering problems relating to the environment in which they exist.”

16. “They are complex organisms, or animals, and their sensory systems have evolved to provide the necessary functions to make the whole fish a viable entity in the watery environment"

17. Fish have adapted to the underwater environment – here are some examples Many questions have come up about culvert length based on anthropogenic perceptions. Not only to fish see better in water than humans, they have a photo spectrum outside of humans.

18. “Fish have a well-developed sense of sight, which allows them to find food, cover, mates, and avoid being eaten in the underwater "fish eat fish world." Their eyesight is on par with ours, as many fish species, but not all, see color and some can literally see in the dark.”

20. Fish have other senses "The lateral line system is a kind of underwater sonar and is very similar to the sonar-based navigation system employed by bats.

21. But instead of listening to ultrasonic squeaks bouncing back from solid objects, the fish is able to feel the movement of water reflected back against its body from objects around it.”

23. The lateral line system of fish has been the subject of extensive research. It consists of rows of mechanosensory cells that run around the head and along the side of the body, where they are often visible as a faint line. Not only is this system extremely sensitive, but it also shows some remarkable parallels to the eye. It can form a sort of hydrodynamic 'image', apparently interpreting a complex array of stimuli that are received on the side of the fish's body (although, presumably, there is no way to focus this image).

24. In other words, fish have abilities that are not well understood.

25. What is known about fish swimming capabilities? Short Answer: Not a lot.

26. Swimming Abilities of Fish Three forms of swimming which are predominant in fish species found in Alberta include: • Anguilliform • Subcarangiform • Esosiform • And a possible new category, “Mechosiform”

27. Anguilliform • Burbot (freshwater ‘cod’) • Swim in an ‘eel-like fashion (undulating)

28. Trivia Scientific name for burbot is Lotalota. For First Nations in BC this a translation of bottom feeder or lawyer.

29. Subcarangiform • Bull Trout • Swim using the anterior part of theirs bodies (e.g. tail)

30. Esosiform • Northern Pike • Swim using both characteristics of both anguilliform and subcarangiform

31. Pike can accelerate between 96 m s−2 and 3.1 m s−1, respectively, for feeding and150 m s−2 and 3.5 m s−1, respectively, for escape.

32. Fast-starts are quick bursts of energy from fish beginning in a resting, or near resting position, to achieve very high accelerations

33. Trivia “With the exception of the Homo sapiens, there is perhaps no other species so dedicated to gluttony as Esoxlucius, the northern pike. Wisconsin’s second largest predator fish (the muskellunge, a close relative of the northern, is first), the northern pike is a voracious feeder that finds most creatures—even squirrels and sandpipers—fair game.” lucius is derived from luce – water wolf

34. How does this all relate to fish passage in culverts? Contrary to popular belief, fish do not automatically come up to a culvert and turn around and go away.

35. Swimming terms • Burst Speeds – highest speed; endurance less than 20 seconds but some fish can burst up to 60 seconds (300mm Rainbow Trout can burst up to 4.3 m/s and NPike can burst up to 3.5 m/s)

36. Prolonged – intermediate swimming speeds; endurance 20 seconds to 30 minutes • Sustained – low speeds maintained indefinitely

37. Culvert structures are designed with appropriate hydraulic conditions that will allow the fish species that are present to swim through the structure within a specific range of flows.

38. Fish swimming abilities The ability of fish to move is controlled by a number of factors including but not limited to: • Fish species type • Body morphology • Behavior • Motivation • Energetics • Temperature • Physiology

39. A familiar reference is Katopodis and Gervais (1991) who produced fish endurance and swimming distance versus water velocity curves. The authors meant these curves to used as guidance since they are so conservative.

40. Example: Swimming Performance Assessment – Subcarangiform Mode (Katopodis and Gervais 1991)

41. Although well meaning these were misinterpreted by ‘on the ground’ regulatory staff. For example, when a stream was running at 1.0 m/s (with whitefish happily swimming around) we were asked to slow down the velocities in our culvert to 0.5 m/s based on the ‘fish curves’. Huh? Were we expected to put a dam in the culvert?

42. AAAAhhhh!

43. ?????

44. Most of the data was obtained in laboratories where fish were generally put inside a tube or flume, zapped with electricity to get them moving, and then water velocities were incrementally increased until the fish reach fatigue.

45. Very ‘cranky’ bull trout in a swim tube

46. As already mentioned, the swimming performance curves, many people used the numbers as ‘absolutes’ rather than guidance. If those curves were actually true, we would have virtually no fish in Alberta (or even the rest of Canada).

47. However, field studies (including TRANS’ work) have solidly proven that fish swimming abilities have far exceeded those predicted by theory.

48. It has been found that fish are able to successfully pass through culverts at higher average velocities than the velocities predicted in laboratory studies.

49. We need better data exchanges or a universal website. There are new fish curves that have yet to be released but these are improved from previous ones. We’re not sure that ‘fish curves’ are the best way to illustrate data since (sorry) they were designed but engineers and open to misinterpretation to a non-engineering audience. Suggestions?