DIRECTING THE MOVEMENT OF FISH WITH ELECTRIC IT^/ 

 Introduction 



The Fish and Wildlife Service's Great Lakes Fishery Investi- 

 gations (under the direction of Dr. James W. Moffett) has recently 

 developed alternating current electrical devices which appear most 

 promising as a means of controlling the parasitic sea lamprey in the 

 Great Lakes. £/ Observations on these electrical devices demonstrated 

 some need for developing a means of accelerating the capture and trans- 

 fer upstream of fish migrating during the period of sea lamprey move- 

 mento This study represents one phase of the work undertaken to solve 

 that problem. The experiment was based on the assumption that local 

 food and game fish wo\ild move involuntarily toward the positive elec- 

 trode when exposed to an appropriate type of direct current introduced 

 into the water. 3/ If fish movement could be thus controlled with a 

 simple accessory mechanism (to the AC sea lamprey control devices), it 

 would resolve the problem in some stream locations of providing for un- 

 interrupted migrations of fishes while blocking or otherwise destroying 

 the sea lamprey runs. 



The examination of literature available at the time the study 

 was undertaken failed to yield clear-cut information on the behavior of 

 fish subjected to direct electrical currents or on direct current elec- 

 trical devices that might be employed to lead fish. Therefore, the first 

 part of this investigation was directed toward determining the type of 

 electric current that would be most effective in controlling the move- 

 ments of fish. The second phase constituted the investigation of those 

 factors wliich woiild affect the efficiency of an electrical leading device 

 as it might be used as an aid in trapping fish to minimize the blocking 

 effect of an alternating current, electrical sea lamprey barrier. 



1/ This study was conducted under the direction and supervision of 



Di". Vernon C. Apple gate, In Charge of Sea Lamprey Investigations, Hammond 



Bay Fishery Laboratory; Rogers City, Michigan. 



2/ Apple gate 5 Vernon C, Bernard R. Smith, and Willis L. Nielsen. Use 

 of Electricity in the Control of Sea Lampreys s Electrc-Mechanical Weirs 

 and Traps and Electrical Barriers. (Scheduled for publication as a 

 Special Scientific Report, U. S. Department of the Interior, Fish and 

 Wildlife Service). 



3/ Personal communications with staff members of the California Academy 

 of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. 



