Factors influencing impingement of fish by Lake Ontario power plants
Fish impinged by two Lake Ontario power plants were examined to determine the causal factors. Fish were near shore because they resided there, migrated there to spawn or forage, or because the water mass in which they resided moved near shore. Once near shore, fish abundance in impingement collections was correlated with demersal or pelagic behavior. Periodic increases in diversity and abundance of impinged fish corresponded with times of upwelling and thermocline oscillations. These data suggest that some species were segregated along temperature gradients and were impinged when the thermocline passed near the intake. Comparisons of impingement catch between two power plants, one withdrawing a constant volume of water and the other a varying volume, showed that responses of fish to an intake were of three kinds. Alosa pseudoharengus and Osmerus mordax were apparently attracted to water currents entering the intake. Morone americana, Morone chrysops, Dorosoma cepedianum, and Perca flavescens were not influenced by changes in flow rate, suggesting that their impingement was proportional to their density in nearshore water. Micropterus dolomieui avoided the intake at higher flow rates in part due to rheotactic behavior. 25 references, 4 figures, 3 table.
- Research Organization:
- Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY
- OSTI ID:
- 6208699
- Journal Information:
- J. Great Lakes Res.; (United States), Vol. 10:4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
FISHES
IMPINGEMENT
BEHAVIOR
CORRELATIONS
INTAKE STRUCTURES
LAKE ONTARIO
POPULATION DYNAMICS
POPULATIONS
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
GREAT LAKES
LAKES
MECHANICAL STRUCTURES
SURFACE WATERS
VERTEBRATES
200200* - Fossil-Fueled Power Plants- Waste Management
520500 - Environment
Aquatic- Site Resource & Use Studies- (-1989)