Rubber ramp and spat rope did not facilitate upstream passage of a galaxiid through a perched culvert

C. F. Baker; P. Williams; N. Pyper; P. A. Franklin

doi:10.1071/MF23207

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Rubber ramp and spat rope did not facilitate upstream passage of a galaxiid through a perched culvert

C. F. Baker

^A ^* , P. Williams ^A , N. Pyper ^B and P. A. Franklin

^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Gate 10 Silverdale Road, Hamilton, Waikato 3216, New Zealand.

^B SLR Consulting, 17 Grey Street, Tauranga 3141, New Zealand.

^* Correspondence to: cindy.baker@niwa.co.nz

Handling Editor: Max Finlayson

Marine and Freshwater Research 75, MF23207 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF23207

Submitted: 19 October 2023 Accepted: 6 January 2024 Published: 31 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Poorly installed or undersized culverts at road crossings are one of the most frequently encountered barriers to fish movements, especially for small-bodied fish species. Although replacement with more ‘fish friendly’ culvert designs is the preferred solution, at many sites remediation will be required in the short to medium term. Consequently, there is a need for effective evidence-based fish passage solutions that can be deployed at scale. This study examined the passage efficiency of juvenile īnanga (Galaxias maculatus) past a perched culvert fitted with spat ropes and a flexible rubber ramp. Only four fish (0.79%) successfully passed the ramp, and no fish successfully passed the whole culvert by the conclusion of the trial. Deployment of flexible rubber ramps to remediate fish passage at perched culverts has recently become common practice in several regions of New Zealand, despite the absence of any evidence base to support their use. This study provides a strong preliminary indication that flexible rubber ramps are an ineffective fish passage solution for remediating perched culverts for non-climbing fishes. To overcome low head-migration barriers, there are alternative evidence-based fish ramp designs, which practitioners can have considerably greater confidence in for achieving restoration goals.

Keywords: barriers, common galaxias, evidence-based practice, fish migration, fish passage, Galaxias maculatus, īnanga, passage efficiency, puyen, remediation, success.

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