December 1, 2009

Top Plants: Edison Sault Hydroelectric Plant Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Angela Neville, JD

Promoting Local Fish Populations

Some large U.S. hydropower plants use a number of innovative methods to avoid harming fish. Examples include fish ladders for adult salmon, flashing lights to alert night-migrating fish, screens to keep fish out of turbines, and surface collectors that guide juvenile fish through chutes that go around the hydropower plants. POWER asked Maas if any of these methods is used at his plant.

"Not at this time," he said. "It has been our experience that these methods are not needed for our facility." Currently, there is a university-run aquatic research laboratory located at the east end of the plant.

Operated by Lake Superior State University (LSSU), the LSSU Aquatic Research Laboratory is involved in many activities. In conjunction with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the aquatic lab performs freshwater research and places numerous species of game fish in the St. Marys River.

More than 50,000 Atlantic salmon are both raised and released annually by the lab into the St. Marys River. Future pans call for the aquatic lab to be involved in a major walleye rearing/release project. Since its inception, the lab has helped more than 50 LSSU graduates obtain jobs in fish and wildlife management. The lab’s goal is to expand research opportunities that support and enhance educational programs in limnology (the study of bodies of freshwater) and ecology, as well as provide scientific data to help protect and manage regional aquatic ecosystems.