Article In: orcid, scopus, cienciavitae

Brown trout (Salmo trutta) passage performance: a quantitative assessment of two vertical slot fishway designs

Journal of Ecohydraulics

Filipe Romão; Francisco J. Bravo-Córdoba; Francisco J. Sanz-Ronda — 2025 — Taylor & Francis

Key information

Authors:

Filipe Romão (Filipe Alexandre da Silva Romão); Francisco J. Bravo-Córdoba; Ana L. Quaresma (Ana Isabel da Rocha e Sá Lopes Quaresma); Ana García-Vega; Juan F. Fuentez-Pérez; Francisco J. Sanz-Ronda

Published in

October 17, 2025

Abstract

The alteration of natural river flows caused by damming poses a global challenge for fish communities, disrupting life cycles, genetic diversity, and population dynamics. Vertical Slot Fishways (VSFs) are key tools to restore longitudinal connectivity by allowing fish passage across varying flow conditions. However, their success relies on optimising hydrodynamic conditions for fish attraction, passage and minimal energy use. Despite their importance, standardized passage performance assessments remain limited, hindering fishway improvement. This study compared brown trout (Salmo trutta) passage performance across two VSF designs: the Revolvo (VS), a commonly used configuration, and the El Arral (DN), featuring a deep notch. Fish trials analysed ascent success, motivation, and transit time under a time-to-event approach. Attempt rates were high (91.4% for VS and 85.7% for DN), with passage success at 87.5% (VS) and 86.7% (DN). Larger trout initiated attempts sooner and had lower transit times, confirming size as a strong performance predictor. Median transit times were relatively low (15.5 min/m for VS and 11.5 min/m for DN), indicating minimal migratory delays. This study identifies suitable hydrodynamic conditions for brown trout and provides insights that may contribute to improving fishway functionality, enhancing understanding of the relationship between fishway design and performance in fish passage engineering.

Publication details

Authors in the community:

Publication version

VoR - Version of Record

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Link to the publisher's version

https://doi.org/10.1080/24705357.2025.2572572

Title of the publication container

Journal of Ecohydraulics

DOI

10.1080/24705357.2025.2572572

Fields of Science and Technology (FOS)

biological-sciences - Biological sciences

Keywords

  • Fish passage
  • monitoring
  • salmonids
  • motivation
  • stepped fishway
  • deep notch

Publication language (ISO code)

eng - English

Alternative identifier (URI)

https://doi.org/10.1080/24705357.2025.2572572

Rights type:

Only metadata available

Creative Commons license

CC-BY - Attribution