"Long-Term Trends of Species at Risk to Impingement at Several Ohio River Power Plants"

The status of species at risk to operation of power plants along the Ohio River will be evaluated by comparing estimated impingement losses to long-term population trends.  Standardized electrofishing surveys have been conducted under the Ohio River Ecological Research Program for more than 40 years at some participating plants.  Electrofishing catch rates from 1991 through 2012 will be used as a measure of abundance in the river of Gizzard Shad Dorosoma cepedianum, Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus, Sauger Sander canadensis, and Freshwater Drum Aplodinotus grunniens, which represent commonly impinged species at Ohio River facilities.  Species at risk were documented by historical impingement studies conducted in the 1970s and early 1980s and a two-year study conducted from 2005 through 2007.  These empirical data will be used to present a pragmatic view of the potential impacts of power plants on the Ohio River with once-through cooling systems that have operated for three to four decades with traditional fish protection measures.