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Adult Fish Counting

Adult Fish Counting

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Overview

The Federal Columbia River Power System comprises a series of hydropower projects in the Columbia Basin located on the mainstem Columbia River and in several of its major tributaries. These projects provide roughly one-third of the electricity used in the Pacific Northwest. To monitor fish passage, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers enumerates adult salmon, steelhead, shad, lamprey, and other fishes passing the hydroelectric facilities that they manage. These facilities include Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day, and McNary dams on the Columbia River, and Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite dams on the Snake River. Management of this program includes staffing and managing over 45 fishery observers,  reporting, and data quality assurance. In addition, starting in 2019, the program was upgraded to use electronic collection and delivery of data.

Our Role

Four Peaks and our teaming partners took over the management of this project in 2019. The team immediately began hiring for the initial season and was able to staff all 12 stations in under a month. Our team also developed new counting interface software, near real-time data transmission architecture, and a cloud-based system for checking, aggregating, and reporting hourly counts. Fully implemented since the initial season, this system:

  • electronically delivers daily count data to designated distribution and archival locations;
  • provides live web access to data and project status for project managers; and
  • ensures the accuracy of fish count data through our double-blind quality control process.

Overall, this system improves count data entry efficiency, data quality, and data availability.

This project required the Four Peaks team to specify, procure, and install information technology hardware, including new video equipment, computer hardware, network switches, and dedicated internet connections at each count station. We implemented a comprehensive training program to equip fish counting staff with the knowledge to properly operate the count entry software prior to the start of the initial field season. In addition, our team provides weekly reporting that details activities and issues, quality control checks, and suggestions for program improvement.

FERC and Clean Water Act Compliance

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Overview

Lake Chelan Dam is a small hydroelectric project that regulates water flows between Lake Chelan and the Chelan River. Chelan PUD has operated the project since 1955 and is licensed to produce power by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. As part of its most recent licensing effort and Clean Water Act Section 401 certification, Chelan PUD agreed to implement the Chelan River Biological Evaluation and Implementation Plan (CRBEIP). The goals of the CRBEIP are to improve habitat conditions and determine the river’s potential for supporting salmon spawning and survival. To this end, it outlined the following path:

  1. Creating habitat 
  2. Monitoring and evaluation
  3. Adaptive management
  4. Compliance reporting

To support the third step, adaptive management, Chelan PUD collected fisheries and water quality data between 2009 and 2019. Also, in 2019 it began the process of providing a final compliance report that evaluated the 10 years of data.

Our Role

Four Peaks provides technical and regulatory support to Chelan PUD. Our initial work involved evaluating reasonable and feasible options for temperature improvements. Also, we synthesized biological and water quality monitoring and evaluation studies and provided technical support for stakeholder and regulatory meetings. To support Chelan PUD’s water quality certification and FERC licensing, we considered modeled and observed habitat data, which we used to interpret patterns of fish habitat use. Next, we derived conclusions about the operational impacts of flow regulation and water temperatures on fish populations. We summarized the evaluation results in a comprehensive Biological Objectives Status Report (BOSR) that was reviewed and approved by multiple state, federal, and tribal stakeholders. The approval of the BOSR allowed Chelan PUD to comply with their license and 401 water quality certification requirements.

The information contained in the BOSR was a foundational component of Chelan PUD’s request for a Use Attainability Analysis. In 2021, the Washington Department of Ecology proposed the requested standard designation change (Ecology 2021), marking the first time it had ever used the Use Attainability Analysis tool. Four Peaks continues to provide support for Chelan PUD by working with federal and state regulators with the associated water quality compliance review.

Ecology (Washington State Department of Ecology). 2021. “After restoration success, Ecology proposes site-specific rulemaking for Chelan River.” News (blog), March 25, 2021, https://ecology.wa.gov/About-us/Get-to-know-us/News/2021/March-25-Chelan-River-Rulemaking

USFWS Fish Hatchery Modernization

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Overview

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) maintains a large network of production and research facilities. These facilities are dedicated to improving conservation efforts for fish and aquatic species around the nation. Although the facilities are diverse in many ways, including size and operational settings, there are several common challenges that could grow to be more severe if not addressed. These challenges include:

  • a higher demand for water amidst limited or dwindling water supplies,
  • aging infrastructure, and
  • hanging environmental conditions that affect both influent and effluent water quality and quantity.

As a result, the USFWS has begun modernizing with the goal of sustainably meeting their conservation and recreation mission.

Our Role

As an initial step in the modernization process, Four Peaks and teaming partner, The Freshwater Institute, conducted initial assessments and assisted with master planning efforts at the following five flagship facilities:

  • Lahontan National Fish Hatchery (Nevada)
  • San Marcos Aquatic Research Center (Texas)
  • Neosho National Fish Hatchery (Missouri)
  • Saratoga National Fish Hatchery (Wyoming)
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower National Fish Hatchery (Vermont)

These initial assessments aimed to provide a planning template for modernizing the entire NFHS.  The focus was on incorporating advances in aquaculture technology to:

  • improve the reliability of the facilities,
  • increase facility and operational resilience to changing environmental conditions, and
  • ensure the overall sustainability of the NFHS mission.

Over the course of the project, the Four Peaks team performed site visits at each of the flagship facilities. Our goal was to identify information needs; assess existing infrastructure, water supply and quality, fish health, and biosecurity; and identify solutions that maximize the use of existing infrastructure. Then, our team completed conceptual and master planning reports for each of the five facilities. We also completed an overarching system challenges report that encompasses lessons learned during each of the five assessments.

Hydroelectric Dam Temperature Control Structure Evaluation

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Our Role

Four Peaks staff provided technical support for an evaluation of the efficacy of a temperature control structure installed in a Washington dam to modulate temperature in the forebay in the vicinity of the adult fish ladder exit. The study evaluated the temperature changes within the forebay as a result of the temperature control spray operation and used that in the context of potential migration paths for migrating salmonids.

Juvenile Salmonid Collector Evaluation

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Overview 

Fish passage is an important consideration for most PNW dams. A PNW hydroelectric project uses a floating surface collector to gather and transport salmonids. Following physical modifications in 2018, our client wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of the new modifications at collecting salmonids.

Our Role

Four Peaks scientists and engineers lead a combined PIT- and acoustic-telemetry juvenile salmon fish passage evaluation for this project. The ongoing evaluation provides reach-specific conversion estimates of juvenile steelhead, Coho Salmon, and Chinook Salmon. We also study near-field behaviors and bottlenecks. The ultimate goal is to provide strategies for meeting passage objectives. Our scientists and engineers also advise on velocities, vibration, and operational issues that negatively influence collection rates. Further, we provide studies on alternative life histories that are expressed in reservoirs above high-head dams in the Pacific Northwest. As part of our data solutions support, Four Peaks engineers develop algorithms coded in Python to position acoustic-tagged fish in three dimensions. Several high-head dams in the region now use this innovative approach.

River Data Management System

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Overview

While many hydroelectric projects reside in remote locations, they must still meet regulatory compliance and conservation goals. These goals require the collection and thorough understanding of fish passage data. To inform decision making and better understand their data, an Oregon hydroelectric project determined a need for a cloud-based data management system. In particular, the system would help monitor juvenile survival, adult stock assessment, hatchery management, and operational modifications. Due to the importance of monitoring fish passage, the system would need to include user interfaces for entering adult counts of multiple species, origin, and age classes.

Our Role

Four Peaks staff originally developed and currently provide maintenance and hosting services for this cloud-based data management system for automated management, quality control, and reporting of fisheries data generated. Our staff worked closely with our client’s fisheries scientists to establish data communications between remote data collection locations and the cloud-based system to transfer data. The goal was to automate key quality control and reporting tasks to ensure they accurately meet their regulatory reporting obligations. We migrated nearly 60 years of historical fisheries data from the legacy data system, enabling our client’s scientists to harness the power of historical observations in the data analytics tools provided by the new data management system. This structured and transparent approach to data management brought the following benefits to our client:

  • Improved statistical accuracy and stakeholder confidence
  • Provides efficiencies such as reduced staff effort and timely reporting
  • Allowed for documented and systematic workflow processes that enable tracking and reproducibility.

Total Dissolved Gas Survival Study

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Our Role

Four Peaks provided technical support for a public utility client. We evaluated the effect of total dissolved gas (TDG) fish survival on juvenile salmonids transported in barges downstream on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Water pumped from hydroelectric projects served as the source water to imprint juveniles. The juveniles were held in raceways adjacent to the tailrace and transported downstream in the barges. Four Peaks evaluated the accuracy of the current TDG data collection methods and possible monitoring alternatives. Our goal was to provide a statistically rigorous assessment of the effects of TDG control measures and the barge holding environment for juvenile fish survival.

 

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