**ABSTRACT NOT FOR CITATION WITHOUT AUTHOR PERMISSION. The title, authors, and abstract for this completion report are provided below. For a copy of the full completion report, please contact the author via e-mail at njohnson@usgs.gov or via telephone at 989-734-4768. Questions? Contact the GLFC via email at frp@glfc.org or via telephone at 734-662-3209.**

EVALUATION OF THE NEPTUNE, LOW-VOLTAGE DC, FISH-GUIDANCE SYSTEM TO MANIPULATE MOVEMENT PATTERNS OF MIGRATING ADULT SEA LAMPREYS TO TRAPS

Nicholas Johnson¹, Piotr Parasiewicz^2,3, Jason McHugh², Mariusz Malinowski⁴, and Roger Bergstedt¹

¹United States Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Hammond Bay Biological Station, 11188 Ray Road, Millersburg, MI 49759

²Fishways Global, LLC, 19849 Middlebelt Road, Livonia, MI 48152

³S. Sakowicz Inland Fisheries Institute, Oczapowskiego 10, 10-719 Olsztyn Poland

⁴Procom Systems, S.A., Elektrotim Capital Group, ul. Stargardzka 8a

54-156, Wroclaw, Poland

December 2011

ABSTRACT:

A fish guidance system named NEPTUN developed by Procom Systems in Poland has been effective in using vertical electrodes and random patterns of pulsed-DC current at power dams to repel fish. A portable, low-power-consumption barrier could be used to improve sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) trapping effectiveness across the Great Lakes basin. As such, this pilot project was designed to demonstrate that in a laboratory environment NEPTUN can block adult sea lamprey migration and can also deflect sea lampreys toward a portable assessment trap. The responses of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and white sucker (Catosomus commersonii), two species commonly captured in sea lamprey traps, were also evaluated. Experiments demonstrated that NEPTUN can block 100% of upstream sea lamprey migration and deflect sea lampreys towards a portable trap. The same NEPTUN settings that blocked and deflected sea lampreys also blocked rainbow trout and white sucker. Although the results are promising, more experiments are needed, particularly in a natural stream, to fully evaluate the utility of NEPTUN to block and direct sea lamprey movements in the absence of physical barriers.