2017 Preliminary Barge Study Results
April 3, 2018
In 2017, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook large-scale field studies to examine two potential techniques for mitigating the risk of commercial barge tow-mediated fish passage at the Electric Dispersal Barrier System (EDBS) in Romeoville, IL; and to assess the potential inadvertent entrainment (trapping) and transport of Silver Carp by commercial barges transiting navigation pools currently populated by Asian carp in the Illinois Waterway (IWW).
These studies built upon previous field and laboratory research investigating potential small fish entrainment, transport, and mitigation. The 2017 field studies included the following three phases: 1) assessing return flow mitigation (reverse flow created by downstream-transiting vessels), 2) assessing small fish entrainment mitigation using a prototype water jet flushing system near the EDBS, and 3) assessing Silver Carp entrainment dynamics in the Alton and La Grange pools of the IWW. These studies were funded by the GLRI and investigated as part of the interagency Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee's 2017 Asian Carp Action Plan.