Laboratory Evaluation of the 1-on-10 Slope Ice 

 Harbor Fishway Design^ 



By 



CLARK S. THOMPSON and JOSEPH R. GAULEY 

 Fishery Biologists (Research) 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Fish-Passage Research Program 



Seattle, Washington 



ABSTRACT 



A six-pool, full-scale section of the 1-on- 10-slope Ice Harbor fishway design 

 was built and tested in the Fisheries-Engineering Research Laboratory at Bonne- 

 ville Dam before constructing the prototype. Performance of chinook salmon 

 ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), steelhead trout ( Salmo gairdneri ), and sockeye salmon 

 ( Oncorhynchus nerka ) was examined in a series of tests . Results were compared with 

 data from previous tests with a 1-on- l6-slope fishway. These comparisons indicate 

 that the new 1-on- 10-slope fishway will pass fish as efficiently as the conventional 

 1-on- l6-slope fishway. 



Several nnodifications of the original design were examined and minor changes in 

 it recommended. Responses of fish to various flow conditions in the test fishway also 

 were noted and velocity profiles obtained in several typical pools. 



INTRODUCTION 



Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River near 

 Pasco, Wash., began operation in 1962. At the 

 same time, a new fishway design was intro- 

 duced. It stemmed from researchby biologists 

 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau 

 of Connmercial Fisheries, at the Fisheries- 

 Engineering Research Laboratory, Bonneville 

 Dam. Before constructing the prototype, a full- 

 scale, six-pool section of the fishway was built 

 and tested in the laboratory to determine the 

 feasibility of departing from the standard 1-on- 

 16 sloped to the more econonnical but steeper 

 1 -on- 10-slope Ice Harbor design. 



Earlier research suggested that fishways 

 with slopes steeper than 1-on- 16 might be 

 satisfactory for passing migrant salmonids. 

 Gauley {I960) and Gauley and Thompson (1963) 

 found that salmonids in a six pool, l-on-8- 

 slope fishway without orifices passed as fast 

 as or faster than salmonids in a 1-on- 16- 

 slope fishway. Collins, Elling, Gauley, and 

 Thompson (1963) further tested the two fish- 

 ■way slopes by comparing the performance of 



-"■ Financed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of 

 a broad program of fisheries-engineering research to pro- 

 vide design criteria for fish-passage facilities at Corps 

 projects on the Columbia River. 



Fishway slope Is defined as the ratio of the rise or 

 vertical distance to the run or horizontal distance. 



individual chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus 

 tshawytscha ), sockeye salmon (O. nerka ), and 

 steelhead trout ( Salmo gairdneri ) in "endless" 

 fishways. In both fishways, salmonids readily 

 ascended 104 pools; several fish were allowed 

 to ascend 1,000 pools or more. Generally, 

 passage times did not differ significantly, and 

 measurements of the degree of fatigue (based 

 on blood lactate levels) indicated that ascent 

 in both fishways was only a moderate exercise 

 for salmonids when satisfactory hydraulic con- 

 ditions prevailed. 



From the foregoing research, the U.S. Army 

 Corps of Engineers began to develop the new 

 1 -on- 10-slope Ice Harbor fishway design. The 

 final design evolved from a series of miniature 

 model tests made by the Corps at the Bonne- 

 ville Hydraulic Laboratory. When suitable 

 hydraulic conditions were established in the 

 model fishway, the resultant design was tested 

 under actual prototype scale operating condi- 

 tions with fish. These tests were in two 

 phases: (1) Evaluating a full-scale, six-pool 

 test section of the fishway under laboratory 

 conditions where provisions for change could 

 be made before casting the prototype in con- 

 crete and (2) evaluating the prototype at Ice 

 Harbor Dam under normal operating condi- 

 tions. 



A report of the laboratory studies (phase 1), 

 conducted from April 21 toSeptennber 30, 1960, 

 at the Fisheries-Engineering Research 



1 



