The project nº 13737: Original Solutions - ENI and CITAB-UTAD was funded project: ANI/QREN/FEDER. The Science and Technology Foundation, Portugal funded M.C.P.A. (strategic projects UID/MAR/04292/2013 granted to MARE) and P.J.F. (UID/BIA/00329/2013 granted to cE3c).
The scientific plan was achieved under European Investment Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/POCI– Operational
Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and National Funds by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project
UID/AGR/04033. The present study was technically supported by Instituto da Conservação
da Natureza e Florestas (ICNF – Delegação Norte), namely the
facilities at the fish farm “Estação Aquicola de Castrelos”,
This study focused on the use of sound playbacks as acoustic deterrents to direct native potamodromous
migratory species away from all kind of traps. The effects of two acoustic treatments,
a repeated sine sweep up to 2 kHz (sweep-up stimulus) and an intermittent 140 Hz tone,
were tested in three fish species native to Iberia: Salmo trutta, Pseudochondrostoma duriense and
Luciobarbus bocagei. In contrast with S. trutta, the endemic cyprinids P. duriense and L. bocagei
exhibited a strong repulse reaction to the frequency sweep-up sound. The 140 Hz stimulus did
not seem to alter significantly the behaviour of any of the studied species. These results highlight
the potential of acoustic stimuli as fish behavioural barriers and their application to in situ
conservation measures of native Iberian fish populations, to protect them from hydropower
dams. In addition, this study shows that acoustic deterrents can be used selectively on target
species.
