SS, isn't DNR saying that Striped bass ARE anadromous in this article??
Tours offered through April 15 at St. Stephen Dam fish lock
By S.W. SHOPTAW
T&D Correspondent
Saturday, March 31, 2007
You thought you had it bad. Try being an anadromous fish and have to swim upriver every year to spawn.
According to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, anadromous fish spend most of their lives in the saltwater environment of oceans and bays but return to the freshwater environment of rivers and streams to spawn. Some of the best-known anadromous fish are salmon and trout, which are often shown jumping over rapids as they migrate up stream to their spawning areas.
But several species of anadromous fish also use the Santee Cooper Lakes system, including blueback herring, American shad, striped bass, hickory shad, short nose sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon, according to DNR. The blueback herring and American shad are the most abundant.
This reporter recently had the opportunity to tour the St. Stephen fish lock, where visitors between March 14 and April 15 can make reservations to actually view anadromous and other species of fish as they enter the lock and pass by underwater viewing windows.
Unique to the state and the Southeast, the fish lock at St. Stephen dam affords passage for fish migrating upstream to spawn, and permits visitors an underwater view through a glass window. Due to heightened national security, visitors must make reservations in advance for tours. Walk-in visitors at the fish lock will not be allowed.
DNR operates the fish lock, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of the St. Stephen Dam on the Rediversion Canal in Berkeley County.
“The fish lock operates on the same principle as navigation locks that let boats pass through dams,” said Steve Leach, DNR fisheries biologist with the Freshwater Fisheries Section. “It allows migratory fish like American shad and blueback herring to move from the Santee River to Lakes Moultrie and Marion and into the upper Santee, Congaree and Wateree rivers during their annual migration. This opens large areas of spawning and nursery grounds, allowing fish populations to expand in numbers.”
The fish lock is capable of transporting thousands of fish upstream and over the dam daily, and an underwater window gives visitors a unique view of fish migration while allowing biologists to monitor fish passage into the lakes.
The story of how anadromous fish have survived the changes in the Santee and Cooper rivers since the damming of the Santee River to create the Santee Cooper Lakes is an interesting one.
The most significant change occurred in 1941 when the Santee River was dammed and Lakes Moultrie and Marion were created. The water from the Santee River was diverted to the small, tidal Cooper River. The South Carolina Public Service Authority, now known as Santee Cooper, constructed the project.
The original goals of the diversion project were to provide hydroelectric power to rural Lowcountry residents, provide flood control for the Santee River basin and provide a navigation route from Charleston to Columbia.
A 22-mile-long, 10-lock canal first connected the Santee and Cooper rivers. A lock was installed at the dam on the Cooper River that was designed to allow boat traffic to pass from the river to Lake Moultrie and back.
The damming of the river blocked hundreds of miles of migration routes for anadromous fish returning to the system. It also created the country’s first landlocked striped bass fishery in the newly formed lakes. Operation of the lock, in conjunction with high springtime discharges of water from the Cooper River dam, allowed fish to pass into the lake system.
While the lock worked well in passing fish above the new dam and the ecosystem created by the new lakes seemed to be stabilizing, a problem arose as a result of diversion. The Cooper River, previously a small, tidal creek terminating at Charleston Harbor, was now carrying the combined flows and sediments of the Cooper and the much larger Santee River. This created a great deal of sediment that began filling up quickly. To prevent this problem without losing the fish passage and the hydroelectric power generation provided by diversion, the Corps of Engineers proposed the Cooper River Rediversion Project.
Beginning in 1985, rediversion allowed Santee River water to continue to be diverted to Lake Moultrie, but instead of discharging all of the water into Cooper River through Pinopolis Dam, the majority of the water was now re-diverted back to the Santee River via a new canal. A dam was constructed on the Rediversion Canal near St. Stephen to maintain discharge control and hydroelectric power generation. To allow upstream migration fish to pass beyond the new dam and into the lake system, a lock was specifically designed and built into the St. Stephen dam.
The fish lift was much smaller than the original navigation lock on the Cooper River. Special gates were designed to create and adjust flows that would attract fish into a long entrance canal on the downstream side of the dam.
Once in this channel, a gate closes behind the fish and drives them into the lock chamber. The lock then floods to lake level. As the fish exit toward the lake system, they pass by viewing windows where they can be identified and counted.
According to Al Crosby of the Department of Natural Resources, “It is a simple process, really. We open a gate, let the fish in. Open another gate, and let the fish out. Sometimes there are thousands of fish in the tanks. You can see catfish that weight up to 150 pounds or more.”
For further information, or to make reservations, call Sabrina Wright at DNR’s Dennis Wildlife Center in Bonneau at 843-825-3387.
T&D Correspondent S.W. Shoptaw can be reached by e-mail at Swsx5@aol.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com. Information for this article was obtained the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
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