Electric Fish Barrier and Guidance Systems

Smith-Root is the world leader in electric fish barrier and guidance technology. We have installed over 50 projects in North America and Europe over the last 30 years. Some of these have been experimental applications early in the development of the technology. Active barriers range in scope from small systems in 1-meter diameter plastic culverts that protect lakes from carp invasions, to mid-sized stream barriers used to divert migrating species into hatcheries or traps for identification and sorting, to large-scale barrier systems that operate in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, deployment environments that exceed 50 meters in width, 42 meters in length and 10 meters of depth. Our series of Chicago barriers prevent invasive species from colonizing the Great Lakes, yet still allow the safe passage of commercial barge and pleasure craft. The power required for our full range of fish guidance barriers varies from 100W to 1850kW.

We have the knowledge, experience, and technology to assist you in any fish barrier or behavioral guidance system application. We have barriers to contain sterile grass carp within power-station cooling lakes, and barriers to prevent fish from moving upstream into hydropower tailraces. Fish species that have been successfully stopped or guided to another location include various trout and salmon species (cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, Atlantic salmon, Pacific salmon), sea lamprey, round goby, Eurasian ruffe, common carp, Asian carp, grass carp, largemouth bass, golden shiners, gizzard shad, and numerous other local resident species. Evaluations of our barriers and guidance systems have confirmed that both juvenile and adult-sized fish can be successfully blocked or guided.

We are also actively evaluating the application of our design and technology for use in other circumstances including other fish species and various reptiles and marine mammals. Our existing technology functions well in water conductivities up to 5,000 µ/cm (3.9 parts per thousand salinity). We are exploring full seawater applications and their resulting electrical power requirements. We are always ready to discuss any special requirements you may have.

If you believe an electric barrier or guidance system may be right for your situation, please contact our Project Management Team to initiate an inquiry.