MRC Preliminary Design Guidance (PDG) for Proposed Mainstream Dams in the LMB

Chapter 3: “Fish Passage on Mainstream Dams”

Fish and Hydropower Workshop

Research on Fish Passage through Large Dams and Review of Existing Knowledge on the Effectiveness and Economics of Fish-Friendly Turbines and its Applicability to Mekong Mainstream Dams in the Mekong Region

Vientiane Lao PDR, 16-17 June 2015

So Nam MRC Fisheries Programme Coordinator

1. Recommendations of the design guidance are preliminary and advisory in nature.

2. The intention is to provide developers of proposed dams on the Lower Mekong mainstream with an overview of the issues that the MRC will be considering during the process of prior consultation under the 1995 Mekong Agreement.

3. Responsibility for ensuring compliance with national standards and provisions of the 1995 Mekong Agreement remains with the project developers.

4. MRC may commission an international expert group to assist in the interpretation of such requirements.

Not all Mekong fish species will be affected by dams. Grouping Mekong fishes into different behavioural guilds shows different levels of vulnerability

Fish guilds in the Mekong Likely impact of mainstream dams

Fish living in headwaters Little or no

Migratory main channel residents Very high

Migratory main channel spawners Very high

Migratory main channel refuge seekers Medium

Generalist Little or no

Floodplain residents (black fish) Little or no

Estuarine residents Little or no

Semi-anadromous fish (live in estuarine -breed in freshwater)

High

Catadromous (migrate from freshwater -breed in sea) Very high

Marine Little or no

Fish passage facilities for both upstream and downstream passage must be incorporated into all dams on the mainstream.

The developer should provide effective fish passage upstream and downstream; “95% of the target species under all flow conditions”

Where fish passage rates are unlikely to be adequate to maintain viable populations, the developers must develop and propose mitigation options as one element of compensation programs for lost fisheries resources.

Consideration should be given to multiple systems at each site to cater for the large number of species and high biomass, especially given the variable flow regime and lack of biological knowledge on behaviour of migrating species.

The planning and design of the fishways should be fully integrated into the dam design concept from the earliest stages of planning.

Developers are encouraged to utilise best international practice in fish passage design and be aware of the outputs of the MRC Fisheries Programme and ensure that a “core expert group” is retained.

Facilities should be designed to cater for the upstream and downstream movement of the most important species at any site, under the seasonal flow conditions during the periods when the species migrate.

The maximum standard length of the target species moving upstream will vary from around 20cm to more than 100cm. For downstream migration, the size will vary from eggs and larvae a few millimetres long, to adult fish.

The preferences, tolerances and biological attributes of the target fish species relevant to successful movement through the facilities should be clearly established.

The peak biomass likely to be using the facilities must be determined and the appropriate structure sizing of fish-ways, cycle time of fish locks and/or lifts, and water availability established.

Predation within the fish passages should be minimised Fish exiting fishways both upstream and downstream should be

sufficiently healthy to continue their natural patterns and migration routes.

The fishways should cater for the largest operational ranges practical, within the biological and hydrological requirements of the fish species concerned.

Particular attention must be given to ensuring that the entrances to fishways effectively attract fish.

Dam and fish passage design should minimise fish injury or entrapment. Spillway design, aprons, stilling basins and dissipater design should seek to minimise fish injury, mortality and entrapment.

Fishway entrances should be: – Sited to take maximum advantage of the hydraulic conditions

created by spillways, outlets and channel structures. – Suitably located to be accessed by fish over the full operational range

of the fishway. – Located where the morphology of the river, as well as the substrate

and cover, promote fish attraction to the facility. Spillways should be designed so that extra flows initiate and

terminate adjacent to the fishway entrance(s) to maximise attraction to the fishways.

Fish attracted to the spillway need to be able to access the fishway entrance without needing to double back to find the entrance.

Fish exiting upstream fishways should not be drawn back over the spillway during overtopping. Exit conditions should be sufficient to provide stimulus for fish to exit the fishway. The combination of suitable attractive water flows, substrate and protection from predators is important.

Barrier screens should be designed to guide downstream moving fish away from turbines and towards the fish passage facilities.

The use of fish friendly turbines should be investigated and adopted where feasible.

The period of captivity and interruption to the normal movements of the fish should be as short as possible.

Water quality should be maintained within any holding enclosures to ensure fish health. Oxygen levels should be maintained within the fishways at >5 ppm.

Where an environmental flow downstream of the dam is required, the appropriate volumes should be directed through the fishway as a first priority, thereby ensuring fish are attracted to the fishway entrance as well as maximising operating time.

Entrance slot velocities should be adjustable, such that feedback from monitoring and observation of fish behaviour can lead to optimisation of the fishway operation.

Provisions for monitoring facilities at fishways are to be incorporated into the design and operation phase of environment management and monitoring programmes.

Monitoring programmes should be established to quantify the effectiveness of the fishways.

The monitoring programme should be funded by the developer for the duration of the concession period.

Developers should utilise a core group of international experts to assist with the design and implementation of the monitoring programme, with all expenses covered by the developer.

Developers should set aside contingency funds for modification of the fishway facilities, which may be identified as necessary based on the results of the monitoring programme as well as new information from other Mekong fishway programmes.

• The MRC PDG prepared in 2009 is an advisory and living document.

• The update of this PDG will be needed urgently. • The update of the current PDG will exert practical and/or current

knowledge, experience, expert recommendations concerning fish bio-ecology as well as new technologies related fish passage facilities such design considerations of fish entrance, geometric design criteria related pool dimension, classification system of river types and typical fish fauna which could assist to make decision for fish passage construction while ensuring the fish passage effectiveness.

• The updated PDG should also address the known functionality deficits of fish passage in terms of entrance and exit position, specification of fish passage and it services etc.

• Apart from the PDG update, development of a common monitoring method or programme to assess the effectiveness and functionality of fish pass and fish population is needed. K. gap will be filled by this monitoring programme.

• The development of this method will be based on reviews of methods used to monitor fish passages globally and especially in the Lower Mekong Basin.

• The PDG mainly focuses on mitigation measures in regards to building effective fish passes or fish ways. Therefore, avoidance or minimization of impacts on fish and fisheries should be considered for the update of the PDG by applying Ecosystem Services Approach, including Hydropower by Design published in the paper: Power of the Rivers by Opperman et al. 2015.

Thank You!