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Category: natural habitat projects

All Natural Fish Feeder Never Needs Filling and Cleans Water

Posted on by david

The Hangout Artificial Fish Habitat Fish Feeder

Fishiding habitat products

Product Description

Growing big fish starts with growing lots of food to feed them. In order for the fry and forage fish to thrive and reproduce, they need mass amounts of food to develop and prosper.

Minnows, small panfish and fry feed on film that grows on surfaces underwater called peripyhton. This magical micro-floral community of bacteria and fungi, protozoa and zoo-plankton, dance together forming this wonderful highly efficient, nutrient converting fish food.

Phosphorus and nitrogen are often the biggest culprits in abundant weed growth and eutrophic waters. Converting these nutrients into fish food and ultimately fish, is not new and has been being used with ongoing success sometimes called brush parks. Create the food source and the fish will come.

The more surface area available, the more food can grow. Weed beds are a good example of surfaces for this film to grow and hiding places for the small fish.

The Hangout is where the smaller fish will congregate and eat this highest form of food available, within the protection of the maze of vinyl limbs that surround the feeder bag.

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The plastic mesh feeder bag holds an incredible 400 square feet of surface area from a matrix of woven plastic recycled from drinking bottles. Weighing just over two pounds and approximately ten inches diameter and two feet long, these bags hold the key to fish development.

Over thirty two square feet of flexible vinyl limbs, the same material in all fishiding fish habitat products, complete this protective eating establishment. Dozens of unique habitat models at fishiding.com

Bend limbs and pinch crease with fingers, no tools or additional supplies needed.

Opens to a full 46″wide by 48″ tall, hang at any depth, unit sinks.

Each unit comes with 5.5 pounds of pre-drilled vinyl limbs, ranging in length from 12″-28″ long and 1″-4″ wide with feeder bag with ten feet of mono bait-ball line.

Hang unit from underside of dock or pier for year around fishing action.

Suspend unit from raft or tree limb to keep predators close by your food source.

Attach unit to full size habitat unit or anchor and add foam to feeder bag to add buoyancy.

Tie multiple units together for deep water applications.

Floating treatment wetlands mitigate lake eutrophication

Posted on by david

By Mark Reinsel

ES&E Magaqzine’s May/June 2012 issue

An enhanced floating treatment wetland (FTW) that incorporates air diffuser technology is under evaluation in an ongoing study at Floating Island International in Montana. The latest-generation system lifts and circulates water through floating streambeds within the FTW. This combination of FTW and improved water circulation/aeration is part of a product range called BioHaven®. The primary objective of the study is to determine whether biofilm-based microbes can provide nutrient removal, while increasing fish productivity.

This system, which is a new type of
constructed wetland, has been evaluated
for treatment of agricultural effluent and
municipal wastewater. Cost-effective treatment options for end users with limited
funding will be its greatest benefit. It can
provide treatment of agricultural-impacted
waters, municipal wastewater, storm water
and polishing of tertiary waste water, along with lake restoration.

Fisheries managers will be especially interested in the productivity potential afforded by a biological system, which can reduce algae and grow more (and bigger) fish. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.

Wetland areas have been reduced worldwide, while nutrient loading has increased
with growing human populations. Mass-production agriculture, as practiced in many developed nations, can contribute to hyper-eutrophication in water bodies that were previously low in nutrient concentrations. In fresh water, partly as a result of normal seasonal stratification, nutrient loading can deplete oxygen levels within the livable temperature zone for fish species.


Over the last 11 years, Floating Island
International (FII) has developed the Bio-
Haven FTW technology, which mimics
the ability of natural peat-based wetlands
to purify water. The Leviathan™ extrapolates
this technology by maximizing surface area and circulation, which are key components of wetland effectiveness. The islands are also designed to provide
optimal perennial plant habitat.

System background:
Dissolved oxygen and temperature measurements taken on Fish Fry Lake,
FII’s 6.5-acre research lake in 2008/2009 indicated that stratified water near the
surface was too warm to sustain a trout fishery. While temperatures below the
stratified warm water layer were sufficiently cool for trout, that zone contained
low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. During late summer, no strata of water could
consistently provide the cold-water, high- DO environment demanded by fish, such
as rainbow, brown and Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
Groundwater containing variable nutrient concentrations enters the lake at an estimated average rate of 18 m3/hr. Surface water also flows into the lake with variable nutrient concentrations and flow rates. Evaporative loss and outflow are balanced to maintain the lake level, which is approximately 9 m deep.

As the lake was filled several years
ago, a series of BioHaven floating islands
covering 5,200 square feet (480 m2) of
lake area and providing over 9.3 ha of saturated surface area was installed. Several
islands were positioned next to the inflow
to maximize exposure to the highest nutrient concentrations.

These islands were designed to maximize production of biofilm (organisms attached to underwater surfaces), and to move nutrients into and through the food web.
After addition of the last 232-m2 FTW, floating islands now cover approximately 715 m2, or 2.7% of the lake’s surface area. Active treatment system with floating streambed Leviathan is an enhanced form of constructed wetland, and is FII’s latest effort to move excess nutrients into the food chain or harvest them. It integrates high volume, low-pressure circulation with matrix surface area constructed of postconsumer (recycled) polymer fibers, for maximum wetland performance.

Air-driven directional diffusers circulate up to 2,300 m3/hr, pushing it through the Bio-
Haven matrix and plant roots. The system’s floating streambed contributes to aeration and nutrient uptake.


The FPZ-brand air diffusers require 3 hp (2.2 kW) to operate, typically with 230V
single-phase power. Leviathan is designed to provide the  complete “wetland effect,” including aerobic, anaerobic and anoxic microbial nutrient conversion. This allows it to treat large, nutrient-rich stratified bodies of water, including “dead zones,” in both freshwater and marine settings. Removal of ammonia, nitrate, phosphate and soluble organic carbon has been demonstrated.

The system can move nutrients from
any depth into and through the islands’
biologically active substrate. In the
process, these nutrients are digested by
beneficial microbes and form periphyton
(attached plant and animal organisms
embedded in a polysaccharide matrix,
similar to biofilm), which is the base of
the freshwater food chain. As these excess nutrients transition into the food chain via biofilm/periphyton, both water quality and fish growth rates can be dramatically improved.
Leviathan can de-stratify water bodies, resulting in greatly expanded habitable zones for targeted fish species. As part of this process, high DO levels can be achieved and maintained, and water temperatures homogenized.


Results:
A 232-m2 Leviathan system, incorporating floating streambeds and grid-powered water circulation, was installed in the lake in April 2009. This system circulated up to 770 m3/hr through the stream channels within the island. Each cubic meter of Leviathan’s matrix, averaging 0.64 m in thickness, provided 820 square meters of surface area.

After 17 months of operation, water clarity had improved from a low of 0.36 m of visibility to as much as 3.3 m. Clarity is now at 5.8 m. Simultaneously, the
water temperature gradient was reduced, creating a larger zone of “livable” water for fish. Two age classes of Yellowstone cutthroat trout were introduced 13 and 14 months into the test. Through the summer of 2010, a favorable temperature/dissolved oxygen strata, ranging from the water surface down to a depth of at least 3.7 m, was maintained as potential cutthroat trout habitat.


One-year-old and two-year-old black crappie were also introduced two months
into the test, and naturally-occurring northern yellow perch were present in the
lake when it was filled. All three species have flourished.

The new aeration scheme in the lake improves water quality by incorporating
dissolved phosphorus and nitrogen into the aquatic food web, in the form of periphyton,
while limiting the growth of deleterious algae. Total phosphate concentrations
are reduced from about 0.04 mg/L to 0.02 mg/L, while nitrate-nitrogen
concentrations decrease from about 0.6 mg/L to 0.01 mg/L.
Fish Fry Lake is relatively unique in that it supports fish accustomed to cold
water (Yellowstone cutthroat trout), temperate water (perch) and warm water
(crappie). Montana officials have made two unsuccessful attempts at sustaining
cutthroat populations in an adjacent stretch of the Yellowstone River.
Fish catch rates and growth rates are now being monitored at the lake. Initial
data show that experienced fishermen catch an average of one perch every two
minutes. Visual observations from diving and an underwater viewing station indicate
that perch approaching or exceeding the Montana state record of 1.0 kg now
inhabit the lake.
The perch harvest at Fish Fry Lake averaged 12 kg of fish per week from May-
November 2011. With a phosphorus content of 0.9% in perch, phosphorus removal
from the lake via fishing averaged 0.10 kg/wk, or 84% of the estimated
phosphorus input to the lake.
In summary, Fish Fry Lake was poised to become another eutrophic waterway, until a new form of applied stewardship was introduced, which reversed the process.

Mark Reinsel is with Apex Engineering.
E-mail: mark@apexengineering.us

Law challenges woody debris

Posted on by david
 
Vince Lovato
Editor

WASHINGTON, DC – Federal legislation now requires the Army Corps of Engineers to address the safety risks of placing dead trees in Lake Chelan to offset the environment damage allegedly caused by building a dock.

The House Appropriations Committee passed a bill April 25 that requires the Corps to address the safety risks to recreational users of woody debris placed in Lake Chelan, according to U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wenatchee).
For about a decade, agencies issuing building permits for docks on Lake Chelan required applicants to offset the alleged damage to fish habitat by placing large woody debris in the form of dead fruit trees, bundled with steel cable and rocks, on the lake bed. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the leader in proven science based, fish protection.

“Individuals wishing to construct a residential dock must pass through an exhaustive and very expensive permit process,” wrote boating safety instructor Russ Jones in a guest column to The Mirror. “Yet any agency wishing to deposit non-native species into the lake appear to be able to do so without the simplest of review processes. This was also the case with the use of submerged fruit trees. No prior study was conducted nor has there been any follow up study.”

With the dramatic rise and fall of the water level through the different seasons, local residents have raised concerns about the possible movement of this woody debris and the safety hazards that it poses to boaters and other recreational users of the lake, Hastings said.

“Washington residents have enjoyed waterskiing, swimming, boating and fishing in Lake Chelan for generations, and it is critical that it remain a safe environment for recreation,” said Hastings, who contributed language in the bill, “I am pleased that the Appropriations Committee acknowledges the need for the Corps to address the safety hazards of woody debris in Lake Chelan and reevaluate its use in the future so Lake Chelan can remain a safe place for Washington families to enjoy recreational activities. Additionally, I question the science and lack of monitoring of large woody debris as a mitigation requirement.”

In January 2011, Chelan City Council members unanimously adopted a complicated resolution restricting the use of large woody debris as an environmental offset to construction projects such as boat docks over the lake.

“In layman’s language, it would allow large woody debris but only low enough where it won’t interfere with boaters,” said council member Wendy Isenhart at that time. “It’s our responsibility to make policy here and we need an expression of our policy.”

Chelan County Commissioners followed shortly thereafter with a similar resolution.

Hastings’ language, which was included in the report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, requires the Army Corps of Engineers to report back to Congress on their efforts to address the safety hazards posed by woody debris in Lake Chelan, the liability of the Corps and private dock owners should a person or property be injured or destroyed by the woody debris, and whether woody debris should continue to be an acceptable option offered for mitigation within Lake Chelan.

In March, Hastings, who has long questioned the need to mitigate the impact of docks on fish, submitted a request to Administrator Lubchenco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the science used to determine the impact of docks on fish species.

Lubchenco has yet to respond to this request.
At least six federal, state and county agencies require anyone building a dock on Lake Chelan to offset its alleged environmental detriment to fish.

One prescribed method is to anchor apple trees, referred to as large woody debris, near the shoreline to create artificial fish habitats. The Army Corps of Engineers and the State Department of Ecology created a prospectus that includes research allegedly proving this method would work in Lake Chelan.

The agencies call the trees “large woody debris” and fear that every time a portion of the lake is covered by such things as docks, it has a negative impact on the ecology of the lake.

Making up for that negative impact, by tethering dead trees near the lake shoreline to create habitat for fish, is called “mitigation.”

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