Functional fish habitats in hydropower reservoirs (FunkyFish) (FunkyFish)
Päärahoittaja
Rahoittajan antama koodi/diaarinumero: 336258
Päärahoittajan myöntämä tuki (€)
- 63 227,58
Rahoitusohjelma
Hankkeen aikataulu
Hankkeen aloituspäivämäärä: 01.01.2023
Hankkeen päättymispäivämäärä: 31.12.2027
Tiivistelmä
FunkyFish will provide new knowledge that facilitates balancing biodiversity protection in hydropower reservoirs
with flexible energy production. Self-reproducing fish populations are a basic requirement for a functioning
freshwater ecosystem. However, the knowledge of habitat requirements of fishes spawning in reservoirs is limited.
Fish stocking has been used as a mitigation measure in Norwegian reservoirs for decades, aiming to compensate for
lack of natural fish recruitment caused by hydropower impacts. Today stocking is only used when natural fish
recruitment has been permanently lost, as the primary aim is to implement habitat improvement measures to
support natural reproduction. However, evaluating whether lack of suitable recruitment habitat is a bottleneck for
the fish population is often difficult, because identifying spawning sites may be logistically challenging, particularly
in deeper areas. Given the high number and often large size of Norwegian hydropower reservoirs, it is not realistic
that hydropower companies are able to perform detailed habitat mapping in all reservoirs. Therefore, FunkyFish aims to develop a cost-effective sampling protocol to identify recruitment habitats in reservoirs. Past studies of
reservoir spawning have largely been limited to mapping of already known or assumed spawning areas. However,
through detailed field work in several case reservoirs where we will use several complementary methods to collect
both physico-chemical and biological parameters, we aim to create a sampling protocol that can be used to also
identify unknown spawning habitats in a cost-efficient way. This is strongly needed by the scientific community,
environmental managers, and hydropower companies, as little is known about the early life stages of reservoir fishes.
with flexible energy production. Self-reproducing fish populations are a basic requirement for a functioning
freshwater ecosystem. However, the knowledge of habitat requirements of fishes spawning in reservoirs is limited.
Fish stocking has been used as a mitigation measure in Norwegian reservoirs for decades, aiming to compensate for
lack of natural fish recruitment caused by hydropower impacts. Today stocking is only used when natural fish
recruitment has been permanently lost, as the primary aim is to implement habitat improvement measures to
support natural reproduction. However, evaluating whether lack of suitable recruitment habitat is a bottleneck for
the fish population is often difficult, because identifying spawning sites may be logistically challenging, particularly
in deeper areas. Given the high number and often large size of Norwegian hydropower reservoirs, it is not realistic
that hydropower companies are able to perform detailed habitat mapping in all reservoirs. Therefore, FunkyFish aims to develop a cost-effective sampling protocol to identify recruitment habitats in reservoirs. Past studies of
reservoir spawning have largely been limited to mapping of already known or assumed spawning areas. However,
through detailed field work in several case reservoirs where we will use several complementary methods to collect
both physico-chemical and biological parameters, we aim to create a sampling protocol that can be used to also
identify unknown spawning habitats in a cost-efficient way. This is strongly needed by the scientific community,
environmental managers, and hydropower companies, as little is known about the early life stages of reservoir fishes.
