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Fish Passage Remediation Example

Hi everyone,

Check out the video below showing a great example of fish passage remediation targeting small-bodied NZ fish species.

The fixes address:

  • The perched apron
  • The perched culvert outlet
  • Shallowing of the apron
  • Fast laminar flow within the culvert

Note: This culvert should have been embedded to both retain bed material and allow good fish passage.

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If you are serious about restoring fish passage, watch and share this fun video essay.

This video essay created by the Fish Passage Action Team outlines the easy to follow process for undertaking multi-site fish passage remediation programs. 

The key is to make the most of data collected to plan actual work programs, and not just produce dots on a map for reporting up the bureaucratic food-chain.

Don’t just watch, please share so we can all make a difference.

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Region Wide Fish Passage Program

Hi everyone 

Check out this video released by the Ministry for the Environment (NZ) showing the great work Kūmānu Environmental and Tasman District Council have been doing to restore fish passage in the Tasman Region. This 5 year project will allow 7,000+ desktop assessments, 4350+ field assessments and 1,566 in-stream structure remediation’s to be completed. That’s a lot of waterways being connected and a lot of happy fish! Enjoy!

Stay tuned for upcoming mail-outs explaining how to implement region wide fish passage programs. 

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World Fish Migration Day

Fish Passage Remediation Training Aid launch.

Hi everyone,  We have been working away and are excited to announce the launch of the latest Fish Passage Training Aid and Fish Passage Action Team website! 

This has been launched in conjunction with World Fish Migration Day, we hope you find it useful, and we are always open to comments and feedback.

  You’ll always be able to find the latest version on the Fish Passage Action Team website under our Fish Passage Resources tab, in the section Educational tools. We hope you have a good rest of your weekend. 

 Our catalogue of mail-outs. 

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Fish Passage Remediation Washington, USA

Hi everyone,

We have recently received this video showing fish passage restoration in Whatcom County Washington.

One of our team members; the director of SSA Environmental, Shane Scott, has been working hard to restore culverts/weirs across the United States.

We absolutely love seeing restoration work done around the world.

Shane has worked with the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association to install  Flexi-Baffles to increase the depth and reduce velocity in this fast-flowing culvert.

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Fish Passage Webinar

Hi Everyone, 

We hope everyone is safe and well!

We loved listening to Kelly Hughes (of ATS Environmental) speak for the EIANZ Webinar covering the big picture fish passage subject. 

So much so that we’ve taken the recorded webinar and posted it to our YouTube channel for all the people who missed it. 

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Fish Passage Guidelines

Hi everyone

The Fish Passage Action Team have been working on a simple one-page guide to help with the remediation of common structures causing a barrier to fish.

The guide includes a link to an interactive decision tool and some helpful before & after examples.

Happy holidays!
 

Fish Passage Remediation (existing structures)

Overview

Fish passage remediation is less about target species, specific swimming speeds, average velocities, Mannings numbers etc., and more about understanding the medium in which fish have evolved to navigate, i.e. water, with the dynamics of complex flows and boundary layers all at a fine resolution.

Basic principles – “Match or better” the streamflow characteristics.

– Provide complex flows (non-laminar) – multi-directional flows with rest pools.
– Length of fast flow zones between rest pools must be shorter than fish burst-swim capabilities.
– Provide sufficient depth.
– Ensure continuity – no overhangs.
– Give fish a range of navigation path options.
– Ideally, retain bed material.

General rules.

– Rope should not be used in culverts if baffles can be fitted, even if climbing species are targeted.
– Ramps should include splash zones and substrate, e.g. rope.
– Ramps should extend into the plunge pool as far as practicable.
– Baffles should be spaced so that the rest pool from one extends easily up to the next.
– Baffles may be considered artificial bed material in some situations, i.e. create similar hydrological conditions
– If rope is fitted through a culvert that is also perched, a second set of rope should be fitted at the outlet.
– Rope should only be attached at the upstream end.
– Interventions should not significantly reduce culvert capacity or increase the risk of debris jams.
– Tide-gates should be designed/modified to delay the closing as long as possible.
Which tools to use where?

The above principles help to guide us towards selecting appropriate remediation tools.
For more detailed guidance on the use of remediation tools click here: 

Remediation Decision-Tree Interactive Tool

Before & after examples click here:https://www.ats-environmental.com/before-after-remediation/

Measures of success:
Success should be outcome-focused and easy to measure or observe.
– Complex flows similar to stream (depth, width, velocities)
– Bed material retained.
– Continuity – no perch or overhang.
– Extended opening period for tide gates.

Please note that the linked resources above are kindly provided by ATS Environmental.
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Pongakawa Wetland Reconnection

Hi all,

Some of the Fish Passage Action Team were recently involved in a very satisfying restoration project.

It is rare that we get the opportunity to completely remove culverts in an effort to restore fish passage so we wanted to share this with you.

See what two workers and a small excavator can manage in a day.

Alex put together this short “Glide-Show” so you can scroll through it at your own pace.

Click Here
https://spark.adobe.com/page/PXhOPliyaGp7o/
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Mussel-Rope Heads-Up

Many of you will be familiar with the use of mussel-rope to help improve fish passage over or through structures including culverts.

The rope helps to reduce the water velocity adjacent to the rope and also gives a tactile surface for small fish to wriggle through or over.

Rope is a good tool when there is no other option, however it does not create resting pools, add depth, or retain bed-material.

While we have installed many 1000’s of meters of mussel-rope, it is important to understand that there are limitations as to where mussel-rope can be used and where it is not suitable.

Mussel ropes can be used to enhance fish passage on existing structures where: –

  • Culverts are perched and fitting ramps is not practical.
  • It is not practical to install baffles e.g. culvert diameters <800mm

Other notes:

  1. Based on our extensive experience, it is best not to attach the downstream end of the rope as this has been known to cause blockages when logs, debris etc gets caught under the rope.
  2. Fixings should be roust e.g. stainless steel D-ring and clasp – NOT a waratah.
  3. “Swimming lanes” are rarely achievable when installing ropes through smaller diameter pipes because these pipes typically have very low flow. It is even more challenging if the pipe is also long.
  4. There is no evidence that “swimming lanes” are more effective than a number of ropes laying close beside each other.
  5. When aiming to get fish up a perched or overhanging structure, it is best to first attach a strip of rubber in order to create a wetted margin.                                    See Tim’s video link below.
  6. Looped-rope is less likely to shed fibers than Super-Christmas-tree rope and there is no evidence of it being more likely to cause a blockage.
  7. The cut ends of the ropes should be melted to prevent fraying.
  8. If rope is used through a culver that is also overhanging, there should be twos sets – one set attached at the upstream end and finishing at the outlet, with a second set attached at the outlet hanging down into the plunge-pool.

In summary:

Mussel-ropes should only be used as a last resort when remediating existingstructures where ramps, baffles etc are not practical.

We are always willing to listen, help. share and learn, so please feel free to contact us however and whenever..