Patent ID: 6793440
Filing Date: 2004-09-21
Classification: E02B,Y02A

Abstract:
A hardware system, adjustable vertically as installed in a waterway upstream from at least one barrier to the downstream migration of fish in said waterway, said barrier having at least an upstream and a downstream side, said system installed and maintained to attract and collect fish in a collector gallery by passively simulating at least one natural hydraulic cue to which fish are responsive by adjusting said system to existing hydraulic conditions of said waterway,wherein said fish that are attracted by said system circumvent said at least one barrier, and wherein said system provides at least one natural hydraulic cue that elicits an instinctive response of said fish to select a portion of said waterway enclosed at least in part by said system and having a near maximum downstream velocity vector, u, and at least minimum strain rate variables in the downstream direction with respect to the depth and the width of said waterway, and wherein said variables are represented mathematically as &PartialD;u&PartialD;z&it;â€ƒ&it;and&it;â€ƒ&it;&PartialD;u&PartialD;y,â€ƒrespectively, and wherein both said variables ideally approach zero, and wherein said system further comprises at least an oven hood surface bypass collector (OH-SBC), having length, width and depth, a top and a bottom, an interior surface and an exterior surface, a main portion with at least one slot opening at said bottom and at least one extension that projects upstream from said at least one barrier alone said width, and wherein said extension eliminates at least one zone of dead water that may be adjacent said upstream side of said barrier, and wherein said OH-SBC is positioned with said length adjacent and parallel to said upstream side of said at least one barrier, and wherein said top is generally parallel to the surface of said water in which said OH-SBC operates, and wherein said depth is selected to permit passage of fish of a pre-specified size, and wherein said OH-SBC further comprises: at least one internal sluiceway circumscribed at least in part by said extension, wherein said extension is wedge shaped with the point of the wedge positioned farthest away upstream from said main portion, and wherein said extension maintains the same profile on its top as said main portion, being an unbroken extension thereof, and wherein said at least one internal sluiceway runs parallel to said upstream side of said at least one barrier; at least one collector gallery that parallels said sluiceway immediately adjacent said upstream side of said at least one barrier and is circumscribed at least in part by said main portion of said OH-SBC, wherein said fish are attracted to said collector gallery by said simulated hydraulic cue maintained by said system, and wherein said fish are moved around said barrier by at least partially de-watering said collector gallery; and at least one articulating extension affixed to said lower part of said collector gallery, wherein said articulating extension at least partially controls the angle of attack of the water that flows under said collector gallery.