Fish Community Interactions with Very Low Head (VLH) Turbine Technology

The first Very Low Head (VLH) turbines in Canada were put into operation at Wasdell Falls on the Severn River, ON, with the possibility of future deployments across Canada. I carried out this two-part study to rectify the knowledge gap regarding risk of this type of turbine to temperate North American fish species. In Chapter 2, I used acoustic telemetry to determine risk of entrainment where I found that there was no fish passage through the VLH turbines and that fish usage of the VLH forebay was limited. In Chapter 3, I experimentally introduced fish into the turbines and recaptured fish downstream using balloon tags. I found minimal differences between treatment and control groups and a mortality rate of 1.16% of entrained fish. Overall, the findings suggest that the risk posed by the VLH turbines is low for the species and life stages studied here.