Untersuchung und Optimierung eines Fischschutz- und Fischleitsystems für den Einsatz an Laufwasserkraftanlagen

Overview & Synopsis

Hydropower plants delay or even hinder downstream fish migration in river systems without any solutions for fish protection and downstream passage. In contrast to upstream passage fishways, the development and dimensioning of efficient downstream passage fishways for native, potamodromous species are still a great challenge due to a lack of knowledge. This particularly concerns applications at medium and large scale hydropower plants, where the commonly recommended technical solutions like physical barriers (guidance screens with horizontal or vertical bars) are not practicable due to operational issues. Further, there is still a lack of research about downstream passage behavior in general and the biological efficiency of fish protection and guidance structures, particularly of the dominant fish species in Austrian river regions. This Ph.D. thesis deals about an innovative fish protection and guidance system, the Flexible Fish Fence.