Smart Fishways · Adapting fishways to hydrological and climatic uncertainty

Adapting fishways to hydrological and climatic uncertainty

Smart Fishways is an EU-funded project which aims to assess the effect of hydrological variability on stepped fishways and to develop a technological and methodological framework to monitor fishways' performance in real-time. By combining fish biology, hydraulics and sensor networks, a new generation of smart fishways will be created, capable of self-deciding their optimal configuration. The problem being addressed is the decrease in efficiency and/or the malfunction of fishways in certain hydraulic scenarios. Fishways are an extension of rivers and therefore, they are also subject to variations in river boundary conditions. However, fishways are designed to be functional in a sensible balance between hydraulics and biological requirements and any anthropogenic or natural river variation modifies its hydraulics over time, producing new passage conditions for the fish fauna. For instance, they can produce a reduction of attraction or even excessive velocities for fish fauna. Knowing the effect of hydrological variability in fishways allows defining measures to reduce its possible effects on fish fauna and maximize their passage. That is to say, establishing specific measures will allow a higher number of fish to accomplish their migration paths, will support the recuperation of endangered species, and, overall, will ensure the good ecological status of our rivers. Considering this, the overall objective of the projects are: 1) To develop a framework to monitor fishway performance in real time. 2) To identify key components affecting fish passage and the optimal layouts to facilitate the passage. 3) To set management rules to optimize fishway performance under each hydrological scenario. 4) To develop the first generation of smart fishways, capable of decision-making for optimizing their performance.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз