Fairmount Dam Fish Passages 2004

Fairmount Dam

Philadelphia Water Department
2004 Fairmount Fish Ladder Video Monitoring Data
Total Fish Passage for April, May, June

Species	Scientific Name	Common Name	Number Passed	Percent
ALSAP	Alosa sapidissima	American shad	91	1.41%
AMCAT	Ameiurus catus	white catfish	6	0.09%
ANROS	Anguilla rostrata	American eel	32	0.50%
CACOM	Catostomus commersoni	white sucker	731	11.35%
CACYP	Carpiodes cyprinus	quillback	1,807	28.07%
CTIDE	Ctenopharyngodon idella	grass carp	2	0.03%
CYCAR	Cyprinus carpio	common carp	401	6.23%
DOCEP	Dorosoma cepedianum	gizzard shad	691	10.73%
ICPUN	Ictalurus punctatus	channel catfish	1,816	28.21%
LEAUR	Lepomis auritus	redbreast sunfish	13	0.20%
LEMAC	Lepomis macrochirus	bluegill sunfish	22	0.34%
Lepomis spp.	Lepomis species		72	1.12%
MIDOL	Micropterus dolomieui	smallmouth bass	143	2.22%
MISAL	Micropterus salmoides	largemouth bass	11	0.17%
MOAME	Morone americana	white perch	55	0.85%
MOSAX	Morone saxatilis	striped bass	161	2.50%
MOSAX x MOCHR	Morone saxatilis x Morone chrysops	hybrid striped bass	20	0.31%
ONMYK	Oncorhynchus mykiss	rainbow trout	7	0.11%
PYOLI	Pylodictis olivaris	flathead catfish	68	1.06%
		River Herring	2	0.03%
SATRU	Salmo trutta	brown trout	4	0.06%
STVIT	Stizostedion vitreum	walleye	57	0.89%
Unknown			172	2.67%
Unknown Catfish			12	0.19%
Unknown Minnow			3	0.05%
Unknown Shad			32	0.50%
Unknown Trout			7	0.11%
TOTALS:			6,438	100%

Remarks comparing past counts with these newest counts

Note that counts had not been made since 1984

2004 counts of 91 American shad were the highest ever. Previous high from counts made from 1979-1984 over various time periods and months was 22 in 1981 when counts were made from 10 AM to 8 PM, 3/30/81 to 6/13/81. The only previous 24 hour counts were in 1979 when 2 shad were counted between 4/30/79 and 5/31/79.
NOTE: Also note that there were 32 "unknown shad," which presumably could have been gizzard shad , American shad or hickory shad.
Grass Carp - Two seen in 2004, a new fishway species.
Striped bass count of 161 was a new high. Only 1 was counted from 1979-1984.
Striper hybrids - New species for fishway counts. Twenty seen in 2004.
Flathead Catfish - New species for fishway counts. Sixty-eight seen in 2004.
River herring - The 2 seen in 2004 was the lowest number ever counted, even for years with very low effort when the lowest tally was 8 in 1984. Highest previous count was 305 in 1981.
Low brown bullhead count (none) and low sunfish counts may be something to watch into the future, RE: flathead predation. We have had these low counts in the past as well as much higher counts so need more information through future counts.
Walleye - Schuylkill River population growing and this is reflected in the count of 57 in 2004. Previous high was 21 in 1981.
Channel cats - 2004 provided the highest count at 1,816. Previous high was 1,436 in 1979, the only other year when 24 hour counts were done. Channel cats are prevalent at night in the fishway.