Fish Guidance Systems have recently completed maintenance, repairs and upgrades to the BioAcoustic Fish Fence (BAFF) currently installed at Barkley Lock, Kentucky.
The system, which uses bubbles and sound to deter invasive carp from moving upstream, has been installed since November 2019 and officially was switched on by then Majority Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell.
The system, as with all electronic equipment, requires regular maintenance, and a team of engineers was on site at the end of March and beginning of April to ensure the system is working as intended.
Upgrades to the BAFF System
In addition to the scheduled maintenance and repairs, the engineering team also installed improvements to the BAFF system by installing additional modules to the Sound Projectors to enhance the higher frequencies of the signal.
The addition of the extra modules to the Sound Projectors will increase the system’s redundancy. The BAFF currently installed at Barkley Lock is a trial system, which has less redundancy than would be installed in a permanent system. The addition of further modules means that the system is both more robust and has increased efficiency.
David Lambert, Managing Director of Fish Guidance Systems stated, “We believe that the BAFF at Barkley Lock is the future of invasive carp deterrence in the United States. As Barkley Lock is a trial, we are taking the opportunity during our regular maintenance to deliver improvements to the system. This will not only benefit the project at Kentucky, but also future systems that might be installed in other states.”
Constant Improvement
As a company founded and run by scientists, Fish Guidance Systems is always investing in the research and development required to provide constant improvements to everything we do. The new Sound Projector modules are just one of a number of innovations that has been deployed at Barkley Lock since its installation in 2019.
If you would like to find out more about how we are helping to tackle the invasive carp crisis in the United States then please contact [email protected].
