Fish Passage Effectiveness of Recently Constructed Road Crossing Culverts in the Puget Sound Region of Washington State

Abstract

Fish passage barriers at road–stream crossings are widely recognized as salmon Oncorhynchus spp. habitat restoration priorities in Washington State and throughout the Pacific Northwest of the USA. More than 3,500 fish passage barriers (mostly culverts) have been repaired in Washington streams since 1999, costing more than US$139 million. We evaluated fish passage at 77 randomly selected culverts (new and repaired) that were issued permits during three time periods (1998, 2003, and 2007). This sample represents approximately 85% of the fish passage culverts permitted in the Puget Sound region of Washington State during the last 10 years. All study culverts were permitted for fish passage under the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) hydraulic project approval (HPA) permitting process and evaluated using physical criteria in the WDFW's fish passage barrier standard. Our results indicate that 30% of culverts (23 of 77) permitted under the HPA process for fish passage were, in fact, barriers. Culverts permitted as no‐slope (one of the most common design types) or as an unknown design type were barriers in 45% of cases. Most culvert failures were due to noncompliance with permit provisions, particularly culvert slope, and a lack of critical evaluation of proposed plans in the context of site conditions by permitting biologists. We found no relationship between barrier status and permit date, experience of permitting biologists, quality of permit, or project sponsor type (private, public, or restoration entity). These results indicate the need for mechanisms to ensure better compliance from project sponsors and an improved process to critically evaluate the adequacy of proposed plans in the context of project site conditions.

Behavior of western blacknose dace in a turbulence modified flow field

“…This is because fish often encounter insurmountable jumping barriers such as dams (Zheng et al, 2009, Price et al, 2010, while other structures present hydraulic and behavioral deterrents that are encountered once the fish enter the structure, such as excessive velocities or highly turbulent conditions (Bunt et al, 1999;Haro et al, 2004;Silva et al, 2010). These deterrents can present significant navigational impediments to fish, reducing crossing movement rates in some culverts by as much as an order of magnitude (Norman et al, 2009).…”

“…Significant effort and capital are expended annually to design or modify hydraulic conditions at fish ways and infrastructure to increase fish passage rates (Nestler et al, 2008;Price et al, 2010). Fish passage rates, however, continue to remain at unacceptably low levels from a fisheries management perspective (Castro-Santos et al, 2009).…”

“…Many historic techniques for enhancing fish passage rates have been proposed on the basis of professional judgment or trial-and-error (Pratt et al, 2009;Rice et al, 2010). Design in this manner, without biologically-based criteria or a comprehensive understanding of the primary factors influencing fish passage has had negative consequences (Towler et al, 2012), including increased project expenses and limited fish passage success (Litvan et al, 2008;Castro-Santos et al, 2009;Price et al, 2010). Consequently, research into basic relationships between fish and their environment is needed to advance the understanding of factors that produce successful fish-based hydraulic designs.…”

Providing Aquatic Organism Passage in Vertically Unstable Streams

“…High quality aquatic habitat, or habitat required for a specific species or life stage, may exist above an undersized or perched culvert providing the impetus for replacement or removal; however, replacing or removing a culvert without a thorough understanding of the channel response to restored stream processes, may result in continued habitat disconnection or the physical loss of the upstream habitat that was the original stimulus for the project. Monitoring efforts of in-stream structures indicate there is a significant and inverse relationship between understanding the site-specific complexities of sediment transport, geomorphology, and physical stream processes, and structure or passage failure [17][18][19]. Understanding the geomorphic context of the project site is therefore critical to meeting the goals of AOP for the expected design life of the stream/road crossing.…”

Fish Passage through Culverts in Central Michigan Warmwater Streams

“…Culvert design can influence the rate of fish movement through the culvert (Warren and Pardew 1998;Bouska and Paukert 2010) or reduce fish habitat, including loss of stream habitat (e.g., refuge habitat and change in streambed substrate composition), riparian habitat, and possible upstream habitat (Harper and Quigley 2000). Previous studies have recommended bottomless culverts over culverts with bottoms for both salmonid and invertebrate passage (Carey and Wagner 1996;Gibson et al 2005;Resh 2005;Price et al 2010) and box culverts over pipe arch culverts for fish passage (Warren and Pardew 1998;Bouska and Paukert 2010).…”