Monitoring of Fish Ladders
Mandatory monitoring of fish ladders for ichthyofauna passage
Those who manage a weir, a diversion, or a hydroelectric plant must not only build the fish passage: they must demonstrate that it works. Fish ladder monitoring is now an integral part of the monitoring obligations provided for plants, and requires documented evidence of the actual transit of ichthyofauna. WAILS meets this need with a system of underwater cameras that continuously observes the passage, recognizes fish in transit, and produces the necessary documentation, without personnel in the field.
Automatic recognition and counting with artificial intelligence
The heart of the system is the automatic analysis of images. Our artificial intelligence identifies the fish crossing the passage, counts them, and records the date and time of transit, distinguishing real transit from debris, bubbles, and reflections. The result is objective and continuous data, available 24 hours a day, which replaces direct observation campaigns and mark-recapture methods: simpler to organize, less invasive for the fauna, and without interruptions during the monitoring period.
Daily, weekly, and monthly reports
The collected data is processed automatically and returned in the form of daily, weekly, or monthly reports, with transit counts, hourly distribution of passages, and trends over the observed period. This material is immediately usable for reports to regulatory bodies, for concession requirements, and for technical evaluations of the work’s efficiency.
Rapid installation and easily movable system
The system is installed in a few hours and requires no construction work or modifications to the structure of the passage. The cameras are fixed to the passage with dedicated supports and are removable and repositionable at any time: the same unit can be moved from one tank to another, from one plant to another, or used on rotation across multiple sites in different periods. A solution suitable for both permanent monitoring and seasonal campaigns linked to migration periods.
It works even where there is no power supply
Fish ladders are often located far from electrical panels and connections. For this reason, the system can be powered by the plant’s network when available, or work in complete autonomy with batteries and solar panels, maintaining filming and data transmission even in isolated sites. Transmission takes place over the cellular network, so data arrives on the platform without the need to physically reach the plant to download recordings.
Fish ladder monitoring for plant managers, authorities, and technical firms
The solution is designed for hydroelectric plant managers, diversion concessionaires, land reclamation consortia, river area management bodies, hydraulic engineering firms, and companies in charge of environmental monitoring. The configuration is defined based on the type of passage, the width of the opening, and the duration of the required campaign. Contact us to evaluate the monitoring of your fish ladder together.
Contact Us
WAILS SRL
Via Solferino e San Martino, 14 | 46100 | Mantua (Italy)
Tel. +393409828077 / +393404115627
Email: info@wails.it