Session B7 - York Haven Shad Migration: Which Way Did They Go?

The York Haven Hydroelectric Project is fourth in a series of hydroelectric dams on the lower Susquehanna River with upstream passage facilities for American shad and other species. As part of relicensing studies at York Haven, resource agencies have requested that a radio telemetry tracking study of American shad be performed to estimate upstream passage efficiency at the existing Project fish ladder and to evaluate migratory patterns within the larger Project area. In response to this request, a two tiered radio telemetry study of both long distance migration efficiency and near field movements and behavior was conducted in the spring of 2010. American shad were captured at the downstream dam fishway and 180 radio tagged fish were tracked over 26 miles of the Susquehanna River via a network of 17 monitoring stations with 21 antenna zones. Tier 1 study results showed that 70 percent (127 shad) migrated the 26 miles of river between dams, and 4 percent of those arriving at York Haven (5 shad) successfully passed upstream through the fishway. Tier 2 detailed analyses of shad movements and migratory behavior within the large and complex study area at the base of the York Haven dams was also undertaken. This analysis revealed a diverse array of shad migratory behaviors, and also some very consistent patterns. Overall, every fish arriving at the project visited the powerhouse tailrace at least once and generally spent the majority of time there. Beyond this common behavior however, many of the shad moved beyond the powerhouse tailrace, and displayed a wide array of searching migratory patterns in the study area. These study results have now led to an evaluation of possible fish passage enhancement scenarios at York Haven