Results of a study at the 17.2-MW Eldred L. Field station — part of the Lowell hydro project in Massachusetts — show that striped bass in the Merrimack River are a greater hazard to juvenile salmon than passage through the plant's turbines or bypass facility. The study demonstrates the importance of considering predation when evaluating fish survival at hydro projects. Efforts to restore Atlantic salmon to their historic habitat within the Mer-rimack River watershed in Massachusetts and New Hampshire have had limited success since their formal inception in the 1960s. Despite collective interaction among regulatory agencies, hydropower interests, scientific researchers, and others, adult salmon returns to the river typically number less than 200 fish per year, and were less than 100 fish per year during 2000 through 2002. Returning adult salmon are trapped at Essex Dam, the first dam upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. These salmon are used in hatchery programs to produce eggs, fry, parr, and smolts, which are subsequently used to stock the headwater areas of the basin. Smolts derived from headwater stocking efforts must then travel past three to five hydro projects on their way back to the sea, depending on their original stocking location.
展开▼
