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Poor Performance of a Retrofitted Downstream Bypass Revealed by the Analysis of Approaching Behaviour in Combination with a Trapping System

The implementation of fish downstream migration bypass systems is still a major challenge, and there is interest in validating the adequacy of different configurations of bypass devices. In the Amblève River (Belgium), a mobile 3.3‐m height dam feeds two principal Francis and one Francis micro‐turbine and is equipped with a modern vertical slot fish pass and a downstream bypass. The aim of this study was to test the bypass attraction and efficiency (i.e. percentage of fish that approach the entrance and use the bypass) for Atlantic salmon smolts. During three consecutive years, a total of 1346 smolts were equipped with a radio frequency identification tag and released from March to May upstream of the dam of Lorcé. The entrance of the downstream migration bypass was equipped with a radio frequency identification antenna in order to detect the smolts approaching. In 2014, a capture cage was also placed downstream the bypass to evaluate its efficiency. The mean percentage of detected smolts at the entrance varied from 26.2 to 39.7%. In 2014, 16.5% of the released smolts entered the bypass and were finally caught in the cage, representing 39% of the smolts detected at the entrance. More than 98% of the detections occurred during night (mainly between 9 pm and 3 am). The searching delay near the bypass entrance varied from less than 5 min to more than 5 days (median 4.3 min). Visual observation indicated a behavioural reluctance before entering the bypass, with a shift from positive to negative rheotaxy. Our results underline the difficulty to install retrofitted bypass system on old existing hydropower plants. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.