(Orleans)– The newly installed electric fish barrier at the Lower Gar outlet is now energized.
Mike Hawkins, a Fisheries Biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, tells KUOO news water levels on the Iowa Great Lakes rose a little more in response to Wednesday night’s rain and they flipped the switch this (Thurs.) morning…(click here for comment.) “The gauge station on West Okoboji is coming up, or it did come up a little bit last night slightly, we felt that there were enough fish congregated around the barrier that if we had another rainfall that there might be a chance for some fish to pass. So we made a decision this morning to go ahead and bring the barrier up to full power and activate the system.”
And from what they’ve seen so far, Hawkins says it looks like it’s going to be very effective…(click here for comment.) “We had a number of common carp that were around the barrier during the start-up and they quickly exited the area. They didn’t like that at all. So they moved away and haven’t been back. In fact I haven’t seen a fish within about 15 or 20 feet of the barrier.”
Hawkins says the barrier will remain in operation into the foreseeable future…(click here for comment.) “Well we plan to have the barrier operational as long as the conditions persist. So if water levels continue to increase we’ll continue to operate. If the water levels decrease to a point where we feel that we’re not going to have any fish passage we’ll shut the system down.”
While the barrier is accessible to the public, Hawkins says you need to adhere to the warning signs that are near it.
