Expert services and innovative solutions for upstream and downstream fish passage

Developing fish passage solutions that effectively address biological, engineering, and economic considerations, as well as regulatory requirements, is both an art and a science. Using more than 30 years of experience, Biopassage assists clients with assessing the need for upstream and downstream fish passage and with identifying innovative technologies and approaches that provide safe, timely, and effective passage with minimal impacts to power generation.

The primary mission of Biopassage is to help clients understand how their projects may impact aquatic resources and, when needed, to develop effective mitigation strategies.

Areas of Expertise for Hydropower Projects

  • Desktop fish entrainment and turbine survival studies

  • Total project survival estimation (downstream passage)

  • Fish passage technology design and performance reviews

  • FERC Licensing (PAD and study plan development, agency consultation, Exhibit E preparation)

  • Silver eel turbine survival analysis and assessment of downstream passage alternatives

  • Upstream and downstream passage for sturgeons

  • Development of science-based fish passage strategies

  • Government grant applications

  • Expert testimony at legal proceedings

Fish passage experience built on lab and field testing with more than 30 fish species

Steve Amaral, Principal Fisheries Scientist and Biopassage owner, has been involved with lab and field evaluations of fish passage and protection technologies conducted with over 30 fish species (diadromous migrants and freshwater fishes), including:

  • American Eel

  • Alewife, Blueback Herring, and American Shad

  • Shortnose, White, and Lake Sturgeon

  • Atlantic, Coho, and Chinook Salmon

  • Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass; various sunfish species

  • White Sucker

  • Common Carp and various shiner and minnow species

  • Striped and hybrid bass (White x Striped) and White Perch

  • Paddlefish

  • Rainbow, Brown, and Brook Trout

  • Channel Catfish and Brown Bullhead

  • Walleye and Yellow Perch

  • Rainbow Smelt

Experience with testing, design, review, and application of a wide array of upstream and downstream passage technologies

Upstream Passage

  • Fishheart hydraulic fishway

  • Whooshh passage portal

  • Baffled ladders (Denil, Alaska Steeppass)

  • Pool and weir ladders

  • Vertical slot ladders

  • Fish lifts and locks

  • Nature-like fishways

  • Biological design criteria for fishways and entrances

Downstream Passage

  • Narrow-spaced bar racks

  • Angled bar racks and louvers

  • Guidance and barrier nets

  • Inclined, horizontal, and cylindrical wedgewire screens

  • Behavioral guidance and deterrent systems (sound, lights, air curtains, electric fields, EMF)

  • Downstream bypass systems

  • Biological design criteria

  • Operational modifications

  • Fish-safe turbines