Why is fish passage important? Migration for spawning Movement for survival, temperatures, flows, available food and cover Prevent population fragmentation Avoid predators After a catastrophic event, recolonization

Context for TRANS TRANS projects are ‘linearly based’ with the occasional exception of building reservoirs and canals. TRANS is not large land scale developers. 2

We don’t do this type of development: 3

Rather we are focused on roads and bridges as part of the provincial highway network. 4

And we’d rather avoid this: 5

And create this: Embedded (fish friendly) Crossings 6

Most often, TRANS influences fish movement through habitat fragmentation not habitat itself. 7

Biology Basics (as they relate to fish passage) "Fishes are the evolutionary solution to a number of mechanical, aural, optical, structural, electrical and other engineering problems relating to the environment in which they exist.” 8

“They are complex organisms, or animals, and their sensory systems have evolved to provide the necessary functions to make the whole fish a viable entity in the watery environment" 9

Fish have adapted to the underwater environment Many questions have come up about culvert length based on anthropogenic perceptions. Not only to fish see better in water than humans, they have a photo spectrum outside of humans. 10

“Fish have a well-developed sense of sight, which allows them to find food, cover, mates, and avoid being eaten in the underwater "fish eat fish world." Their eyesight is on par with ours, as many fish species, but not all, see color and some can literally see in the dark.” 11

Fish have other senses "The lateral line system is a kind of underwater sonar and is very similar to the sonar-based navigation system employed by bats. 12

13 But instead of listening to ultrasonic squeaks bouncing back from solid objects, the fish is able to feel the movement of water reflected back against its body from objects around it.”

In other words, fish have abilities that are not well understood. 14

What is known about fish swimming capabilities? Short Answer: Not a lot. 15

Swimming Abilities of Fish Three forms of swimming which are predominant in fish species found in Alberta include:  Anguilliform  Subcarangiform  Esosiform

Anguilliform Burbot (freshwater ‘cod’) Swim in an ‘eel-like fashion (undulating)

Subcarangiform Bull Trout Swim using the anterior part of theirs bodies (e.g. tail)

Esosiform Northern Pike Swim using both characteristics of both anguilliform and subcarangiform

Swimming terms  Burst Speeds – highest speed; endurance less than 20 seconds but some fish can burst up to 60 seconds (300mm Rainbow Trout can burst up to 4.3 m/s and NPike can burst up to 2.0 m/s)

 Prolonged – intermediate swimming speeds; endurance 20 seconds to 30 minutes  Sustained – low speeds maintained indefinitely

Culvert structures are designed with appropriate hydraulic conditions that will allow the fish species that are present to swim through the structure within a specific range of flows.

How does this all relate to fish passage in culverts? Contrary to popular belief, fish do not automatically come up to a culvert and turn around and go away. 23

Fish swimming abilities The ability of fish to move is controlled by a number of factors including but not limited to: Fish species type Body morphology Behavior Motivation Energetics Temperature Physiology 24

A familiar reference is Katopodis and Gervais (1991) who produced fish endurance and swimming distance versus water velocity curves. The authors meant these curves to used as guidance since they are so conservative. 25

26 Example: Swimming Performance Assessment – Subcarangiform Mode (Katopodis and Gervais 1991)

27 Most of the data was obtained in laboratories where fish were generally put inside a tube or flume, zapped with electricity to get them moving, and then water velocities were incrementally increased until the fish reach fatigue.

28 Very ‘cranky’ bull trout in a swim tube

29 As to the swimming performance curves, many people used the numbers as ‘absolutes’ rather than guidance. If those curves were actually true, we would have virtually no fish in Alberta (or even the rest of Canada).

30 However, field studies (including TRANS’ work) have solidly proven that fish swimming abilities have far exceeded those predicted by theory.

31 It has been found that fish are able to successfully pass through culverts at higher average velocities than the velocities predicted in laboratory studies.

32 Dependent on the fish species, many have different modes of swimming. Fish tend to be energetically efficient – they will seek out lower velocity zones when migrating and will do so in culverts if needed.

33 Culverts do have slower velocity area (margins) along the walls and bottom. Slope = 0.5%, flow =.0145 cms, Average velocity =.872 m/s (Illustration of culvert velocities [Magura, 2007])

34 Information on swimming abilities, behavior, energetics and other areas of fish biology are being explored more and more. But now more to the engineering side of things.