Fisheries Health Is Important in Hydrokinetic Research

ACEP’s Amanda Byrd spoke to Andy Seitz, a faculty member with the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Science, in Igiugig in 2019 about fisheries research and hydrokinetics. Watch the video here!

Pacific Marine Energy Center affiliates at the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences have been studying the interactions between salmon and hydrokinetic turbines.

A turbine spinning in the water while salmon migrate upriver to spawn doesn’t sound like a good combination; however, initial research suggests they can coexist without issue.

Seitz and ACEP’s Stephanie Jump and Taylor Poirrier have been leading fisheries research in Alaska in relation to in-river energy generating turbines.

Their research has been conducted on at least three different turbine types and on the Tanana River near Nenana, Yukon River near Eagle and Kvichak River near Igiugig.

This research has been funded by the State of Alaska and the US Department of Energy Water Power Technology Office.

For more information on AHERC, visit /aherc.

 

A hydrokinetic turbine spins in the Yukon River near Eagle in 2010. Photo by Todd Paris.