Hoosic River Fisheries Study
Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation
Syracuse, NY
Kleinschmidt conducted intensive fisheries surveys in the bypass,
impoundments, and tailwaters at two hydroelectric developments on New
York's Hoosic River to address an Additional Information Request (AIR)
from the
Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The FERC had determined that a detailed
analysis of the project's fishery resources was required prior to evaluating
the Hoosic River Project license application. This study required extensive
seasonal sampling of fish
populations by means of backpack electrofishing, boat electrofishing, trapnetting,
seining, and gill netting in diverse habitats during five sampling events.
The study documented length/frequency distributions of fish in the two
project
impoundments, tailwaters, and a two-mile long river bypass. Visual observations
and counts of smallmouth bass nests were also conducted.
Over the course of the year-long study, 34 species were represented in a total collection of 14,161 fish. Water quality/temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and conductivity were also collected during the fish sampling events to confirm water quality suitability for the collected species. This project also entailed a mark and recapture study to document the extent of upstream movements and origins of fish utilizing the bypassed reach. For this latter effort, 1,273 fish of 16 species were Floy tagged. The analysis included generation of catch/ effort for game fish species and Proportional Stock Densities (PSD) of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and dominant panfish species. Kleinschmidt's fisheries staff conducted all analyses and completed a report that contrasted project fisheries data with other New York state fisheries data, and documented that densities, diversity, and age structure of game fish and prey species were consistent with a "well balanced" warmwater fishery.
The study results and conclusions were accepted by both federal and New York state fisheries agencies and the FERC.
For more information contact Brandon Kulik.