Potential of short-haul barging as a bypass release strategy : issue paper

On-site bypassing of juvenile salmonids around turbines for subsequent release into tailrace areas of dams is a developing strategy for increasing survival of these fish. All of these systems use single-site, fixed-location exit structures. Recent studies at Bonneville Dam have shown that survival of bypassed subyearling fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) was not increased over fish passing through the second powerhouse turbines at that dam (Ledgerwood et al. 1991). Furthermore, Ledgerwood et al. (1991) suggested that predation at the bypass exit was likely responsible for the lower than expected survival of fish using this passage conduit.