Reconnecting American Eels to the Upper Roanoke Basin

One indication of watershed health is diversity of aquatic fauna.  American eels spawn in the Atlantic Ocean, and their offspring use rivers from maritime Canada to northern South America as nursery areas.  They were historically largely eliminated from the upper Roanoke River Basin due to flood control and hydropower dam construction, consequently reducing upstream native fish diversity as well as eel production.  As part of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing process with Dominion/North Carolina Power, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a Section 18 fishway prescription requiring safe, timely and effective passage be provided for eels reaching the Dominion dams.  We sampled eels in the river’s bypassed reach and in the tailrace below Roanoke Rapids Dam from 2005 – 2008 to assess the abundance and distribution of eels below the dam.  Large collections in conventional elver traps within the bypassed reach documented seasonal and horizontal distribution patterns and led to construction of high-capacity eelways at the north and south ends of the bypassed reach in 2009-2010.  Well over a million eels have been passed upstream during 2010-2013.  We will discuss observed patterns of eel abundance and upstream migration, eelway design considerations, and other factors involved in eel restoration.