Flow structure and fish passage performance of a brush-type fish way: A field study in the İyidere River, Turkey

Abstract

The fish passage performance and flow structure of a brush fish pass were investigated at the İncirli Small Hydropower Plant on the İyidere River, located in the East Black Sea region of Turkey. The spatial distributions of velocity vectors, power velocity, Froude number and turbulent kinetic energy are presented. The flow is quasi-uniform and subcritical, which provides different migration corridors with favourable hydraulic conditions; importantly for the fish, these corridors continue through the complete fish pass. The flow-bristle interaction creates a reduced velocity and low-turbulence resting zones. In addition, the passage efficiency of the brush fish pass was assessed using passive integrated transponder telemetry. The results clearly showed that upstream passage efficiency differs between fish species: Salmo coruhensis performed better than Alburnoides fasciatus on the same fish passage. The passage efficiency for the target fish species S. coruhensis was calculated to be 82.4%. The data revealed that the brush fish passage provides passage for small-bodied fish (total body length <15 cm) in a high-gradient channel with a slope of 10%. The monitoring data revealed that bristles as flexible hydraulic elements are beneficial for migrating fish.