The use of non-physical barriers, particularly based on acoustic and luminous stimuli has
been historically used to influence the behavior of fish, mainly for fishing purposes. Nowadays,
behavioral barriers and guidance systems have been developed, not only to deter movements of fish,
but also to promote behavioral responses with the objective of native fish protection, in particular the
potamodromous species, reducing their mortality in the hydraulic structures of dams and guiding
them towards transposition systems or to replacement habitats in regularized water bodies. This
review details the use of acoustic and luminous systems and their evolution in recent years (Scopus
2012–2019) for the development of selective behavioral barriers for fish. We found that recent
technologies try to identify new acoustic and luminous sensory ranges. Ambient sound, sound
of predators or luminous spectral bands with different wavelengths have been used to selectively
stimulate target and non-target species, in order to improve the effectiveness of repulsive/attractive
systems for fish. Guidelines for future research in the area are also present.
This work is supported by National Funds by FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science
and Technology, under the project UIDB/04033/2020.
