TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Traverse City plans to construct a “FishPass” to replace an eroding dam on a central river, which will allow native fish species to pass up and downstream while keeping invasive species out.  

After 20 years of efforts to restore the Boardman-Ottaway River, the project hopes to reconnect the river with Lake Michigan, and with the help of fishery management agencies, limit the number of sea lampreys – among other non-native species. 

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The project will feature a 6.5 ft. vertical barrier across the entire river, a nature-like river channel, a fish sorting channel, a research and education building, and a park. 

The 10-year research project would look into a variety of methods for sorting fish — using environmental stimulation like bubbles, sound, light and pheromones to herd them through the structure. Fish would then be sorted below the dam and transported upstream in a kind of elevator or pump known as an Archimedes screw, said Dan Zielinski, principal engineer and scientist with the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission and for FishPass. 

In June of this year, staff from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) retrieved, downloaded, deployed and re-deployed acoustic fish telemetry receivers in Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan. These receivers are part of the Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observing System (GLATOS) and support numerous ongoing projects including said GLFC.   

Facial recognition technology akin to that which unlocks smartphones will be implemented for the first time in a natural setting, and not just in a laboratory and environment.  This will also help to sort different fish species with similar characteristics. 

“This is just the most innovative and most exciting project that I think I’ve seen our commission be involved in,” said Marc Gaden, deputy executive secretary for the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission.

Accounting for requests by the community, the FishPass project tried to appeal to them by featuring natural aesthetics such as: green space, rain gardens and access for fishing and kayaking.  Community members decided they did not want to include picnic tables or grills in the design. 

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After a litigation last year contending that the FishPass project was going to impact a public park and ought to be put to a city vote, the case has worked its way to the Michigan Court of Appeals and awaits an appellate court decision following an Oct. 4 briefing in Petoskey. 

This project comes from the cumulative work of local, tribal, federal, and state agencies, local non-government organizations (NGOs), and The City of Traverse City. Funding for FishPass comes from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Michigan Department of Natural Resources Dam Management Grant, Great Lakes Fishery Trust, City of Traverse City, and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission according to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.