Novel Tube Fishway successfully attracts and lifts wild fish

Barriers have significantly disrupted fish movement and migration, contributing to global population declines. The Tube Fishway offers a novel solution for upstream passage that uses the flow of water through pipes to lift fish upstream. Potential design advantages include reduced water demands, and an ability to retrofit to existing barriers or sites with space constraints. This study presents the first Tube Fishway deployment that attracted and safely transported wild fish. Installed downstream of Ewen Maddock Dam (Australia), the fishway operated over 20 experimental hours and successfully transported 230 fish across eight species over a height of 3.4 m. The most effective configurations included a one-way cone trap with a 3-minute attraction interval and 0.26 m/s attraction flow (25 fish/h), or combined attraction and auxiliary flows of 0.13 m/s and 0.28 m/s, respectively (29 fish/h). DIDSON acoustic camera footage indicated auxiliary flow enhanced fish activity near the entrance, while the fishway’s operational surge temporarily deterred fish activity for up to 80 s. This field validation confirms the capacity of the Tube Fishway to transport wild fish. Operational parameters including entry design, flow configuration, and timing, can influence the fishway’s effectiveness. These findings support the development of the Tube Fishway as a solution for restoring riverine connectivity. The novel Tube Fishway system was implemented in the field for the first time and attracted and lifted 230 wild fish.Using a cone trap at the fishway entrance consistently achieved higher fish counts.Acoustic camera results indicated that the fishway’s operation would deter fish activity, however this was restored after 80 s. The novel Tube Fishway system was implemented in the field for the first time and attracted and lifted 230 wild fish. Using a cone trap at the fishway entrance consistently achieved higher fish counts. Acoustic camera results indicated that the fishway’s operation would deter fish activity, however this was restored after 80 s.