Sanz-Ronda, F.J.; Bravo-Córdoba, F.J.; García-Vega, A.; Valbuena-Castro, J.; Martínez-de-Azagra, A.; Fuentes-Pérez, J.F. Fish Upstream Passage through Gauging Stations: Experiences with Iberian Barbel in Flat-V Weirs. Fishes2021, 6, 81.
Sanz-Ronda, F.J.; Bravo-Córdoba, F.J.; García-Vega, A.; Valbuena-Castro, J.; Martínez-de-Azagra, A.; Fuentes-Pérez, J.F. Fish Upstream Passage through Gauging Stations: Experiences with Iberian Barbel in Flat-V Weirs. Fishes 2021, 6, 81.
Sanz-Ronda, F.J.; Bravo-Córdoba, F.J.; García-Vega, A.; Valbuena-Castro, J.; Martínez-de-Azagra, A.; Fuentes-Pérez, J.F. Fish Upstream Passage through Gauging Stations: Experiences with Iberian Barbel in Flat-V Weirs. Fishes2021, 6, 81.
Sanz-Ronda, F.J.; Bravo-Córdoba, F.J.; García-Vega, A.; Valbuena-Castro, J.; Martínez-de-Azagra, A.; Fuentes-Pérez, J.F. Fish Upstream Passage through Gauging Stations: Experiences with Iberian Barbel in Flat-V Weirs. Fishes 2021, 6, 81.
Abstract
The monitoring of river discharge is vital for the correct management of water resources. A worldwide facility used for measuring discharge are flat-V gauging weirs. These structures consist of a small weir, with a triangular cross-section and a flat “V”-shaped notch. Their extensive use is a consequence of their utility in the measurement of both low and high flow conditions. However, depending on their size, local morphology and river discharge can act as full or partial hydraulic barriers to fish migration. To give answer to this question, the present work studies fish passage performance over flat-V weirs considering their hydraulic performance. For this, radio-tracking and video monitoring observations were combined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models in two flat-V weirs, using Iberian barbel (Luciobarbus bocagei) as target species. Results show that fish passage is conditioned by both hydraulic and behavioral processes, providing evidences about the scenarios where flat-V weirs may act as full or partial barriers to upstream movements. For the studied flat-V weirs, a discharge range of 0.27-8 m3/s, with a water drop difference between upstream and downstream water levels lower than 0.7 m and a depth downstream the weir higher than 0.30 m can be considered as an effective passage situation for barbels. These findings are of interest to quantify flat-V weir impacts, for engineering applications and to establish managing or retrofitting actions when required.
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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