|
Electric News Releases
March 27, 2000
North Carolina Power uses Fishwheel to Study Roanoke River
Fish Species
ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C.. -- North Carolina Power, a subsidiary
of Dominion Resources (NYSE: D), the U.S. Geological Survey and a group of North
Carolina and federal agencies are going fishing on the Roanoke River.
With a wheel.
Using a fishwheel, a device western North American Indians
use to harvest salmon, the consortium will conduct a major study of American
shad and other fish species on the Roanoke River in North Carolina. The project
is part of North Carolina Power’s effort to renew its federal license to operate
hydroelectric dams at Roanoke Rapids and Gaston power stations.
"We will be using a high-tech version of a fishwheel
to study the population size of species that run up the Roanoke River,"
said Joseph E. Hightower, an associate professor with the U.S. Geological Survey’s
research unit at North Carolina State University.
Hightower, who is heading the two-year research effort, said,
"The wheel should allow us to get a much better picture of the condition
of such migrating species as American shad and striped bass."
The wheel has been positioned on the Roanoke River near Halifax.
"This should be an ideal place to intercept spawning species," Hightower
said. The annual spring migration of American shad up the Roanoke River is of
particular interest to Hightower. For several years, the stock has been declining,
but it has been difficult to determine the population’s exact size.
The fishwheel – 22 feet in diameter -- has three large baskets,
each 10-feet square and 10-feet deep. The wheel sits between two large pontoons
and is turned by the river current. As spawning fish migrate upstream, they
are captured in the baskets. The baskets rotate out of the water and empty their
catch into large water-filled, holding tanks. The fish are identified, measured,
tagged and returned to the river.
Much smaller versions of fishwheels were used along the East
Coast during the 1800s, but this is the first time a fishwheel has been used
east of the Mississippi River for research purposes, Hightower said.
Other partners in the project include; the North Carolina
Wildlife Resources Commission; North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries;
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. North Carolina Power helped pay for
the giant wheel and provided employees and equipment to assist in the assembly
of the wheel.
"Striped bass and other anadromous species are popular
game fish that attract anglers from all over the East Coast to the Roanoke River
basin," said Bill Bolin, lead environmental biologist for North Carolina
Power. "This study will help to develop management strategies that will
speed the return of the shad and ensure that striper stocks remain healthy."
The fishwheel was designed for research work by LGL Limited,
an environmental consulting firm based in Sidney, British Columbia, Canada.
The Nisga tribe in British Columbia manufactured it.
Dominion Resources provides electricity to customers in North
Carolina as North Carolina Power (www.ncpower.com)
and in Virginia as Virginia Power (www.vapower.com).
Information about Dominion can be obtained on the World Wide Web at www.dom.com.
Hightower’s web site on the fish wheel project is available
at: www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/j/jhncsu/public/FishwheelProject.html
|
