Trout Growth and Mortality Following Water Quality and Flow Improvements on the Lower Saluda River in South Carolina
SEAFWA Journal Volume 7, March 2020
The lower Saluda River (LSR) supports a coldwater, put-grow-and-take trout fishery due to hypolimnetic releases from the Saluda Hydroelectric Project. The LSR has historically been noted for low flows (5.1 m3 sec-1) transitioning abruptly to peaking flows up to 509.7 m3 sec-1 with seasonally hypoxic water. Recent relicensing resulted in changes in the Saluda Hydroelectric Project operation that were intended to improve habitat conditions downstream. In a multi-year study, a combination of tagging and boat electrofishing was used to evaluate mortality, growth, and angler catch and...
