PNNL

Abstract

Statistical methods are presented for using echo-traces from split-beam hydro-acoustic sampling to assess fish behavior in response to a stimulus. The data presented are from a study designed to assess the response of free-ranging, lake-resident fish, primarily kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to high intensity strobe lights, and was conducted at Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Northern Washington State. The lights were deployed immediately upstream from the turbine intakes, in a region exposed to daily alternating periods of high and low flows. The study design included five down-looking split-beam transducers positioned in a line at incremental distances upstream from the strobe lights, and treatments applied in randomized pseudo-replicate blocks. Statistical methods included the use of odds-ratios from fitted loglinear models. Fish-track velocity vectors were modeled using circular probability distributions. Both analyses are depicted graphically. Study results suggest large increases of fish activity in the presence of the strobe lights, most notably at night and during periods of low flow. The lights also induced notable bimodality in the angular distributions of the fish track velocity vectors. Statistical summaries are presented along with interpretations on fish behavior.