Comparative Biotic Monitoring of a Modified Denil Fishway and a Pool and Weir Fishway on a Small Tributary in the Upper Trout Region

Abstract

Modified Denil fishways have a centred gabion containing gravel and are intended to enable the free passage of riverbed-oriented species and invertebrates. An experimental plant was built at a small hydropower station which provided a newly arranged Denil fishway and a pool and weir fishway parallel to one another. It was possible to alternately operate the systems for monitoring purposes owing to the parallel design, allowing an appropriate comparison and analysis of the results to be carried out. The primary objective of this study is to qualitatively and quantitatively compare the size selectivity and ascent numbers between the new development and the conventional construction type. An important component of this study is the test to prove the passage of bullheads in the modified Denil fishway using an experimental set-up. The results of this study depict a similar size distribution of ascended fish in both construction types and thus provide no evidence of selectivity for small fish sizes. Likewise, no deficit of the modified Denil fishway compared with the pool and weir fishway could be proven within the scope of a monitoring. The successful passage of bullheads could be demonstrated in the experiment as well as during monitoring.