The Kynard Alternating Side-Baffle Fishway: A Technical Upstream Fishway that Passes Diverse Diadromous and Potamodromous Fishes with Small and Large Bodies.
Kynard, Boyd1,2, Jerry Sweeten3, Brian Kynard1, Cassandra Holmes4, Kevin Pangle5, Kevin Haupt6, Donovan Henry7, 1BK-Riverfish,llc, Amherst, MA, 2Environmental Conservation Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 3Ecosystems Connections Institute, Denver, IN, 4Hobart, IN, 5Central Michigan University Department of Biology, Mt. Pleasant, MI, 6United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Carterville Office, Marion, IL, 7Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Marion, IL
Upstream fishways at barrier dams should pass diverse migratory species (diadromous and potamodromous species) with small and large bodies. To pursue this goal, BK-Riverfish, llc invented and patented a new upstream fishway design: the Kynard Alternating Side-Baffle Fishway. In 2017, a 23-m-long prototype Model 2 fishway (0.6 m wide x 0.6 m high on 8% slope; 56 side-baffles) was installed at the 1.5-m-high Stockdale Mill Dam, Eel River, IN to monitor passage of mid-western potamodromous fishes. Each spring-fall during 2018-2021, “passed” fish were captured in a funnel trap set in the ladder exit during a 72-h per week sampling effort with the following results: 1) 25,000 individuals representing 52 species (85%) of 61 species in the Eel River ascended the fishway, and 2) small- and large-bodied fish ascended: small = 30 mm TL (five darter species); large = 750 mm TL (Golden Redhorse). The prototype operated with no problems due to winter ice, floods, or debris. Captured diadromous fish observed during trials in an experimental Model 3 fishway (0.9-m-wide x 0.3-m-high; 8 side-baffles) found the following: 24 adult Blueback Herring, Alosa aestivalis, (mean TL = 263 mm) made 10 ascents (41.7%); five schooling adult American Shad, A. sapidissima, (mean TL = 437 mm) made four ascents; and 23 of 75 (30.7%) American Eel elvers, Anguilla rostrata, (mean TL = 167.6 mm) ascended the fishway. In the Model 3, a low fishway flow of 0.048 m3/s (1.7 ft3/s) creates water 30.5-cm deep at side-baffles.