Session D2 - A cabled acoustic telemetry system for detecting and tracking juvenile salmon

The Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS) is a nonproprietary technology developed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, for detecting and tracking small fish. The JSATS consists of acoustic microtransmitters; autonomous, cabled, or portable receivers with hydrophones; and data management and processing applications. Each microtransmitter, surgically implanted in fish, transmits a unique 31-bit binary code encoded using binary phase shift keying at 416.7 kHz. Cabled systems are deployed at dams and used to determine passage-route and near-dam behavior for fish. Each cabled system is synchronized to a universal GPS clock and waveforms are saved to the computer before being decoded. Valid detections are separated from spurious detections using filtering processes requiring a minimum of six messages with a pulse interval matching that expected from properly functioning tags within a fixed period. Time-of-arrival information for valid detections on four hydrophones is used to solve for the 3D position of tagged fish. For the cabled system at John Day Dam, the range for 3D tracking is more than 100 m upstream of the dam face where hydrophones are deployed. Cabled systems have been successfully deployed on several major dams to acquire information for salmon protection and to develop more fish friendly hydroelectric facilities