Fisheries

Backed by more than 35 years of specialized experience, Schnabel is a recognized leader in fisheries engineering with a longstanding dedication to fish protection and fishery enhancements. Through our extensive work on projects across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, we’ve gained expertise in the intricate criteria and contemporary design practices essential for effective aquaculture solutions.

Our comprehensive services in this area include fish passage design, hatchery master planning, fish screening structure, and fish hatchery design. These services are backed by a proven track record of navigating challenges at high dams and within riverbeds, in efforts to sustain a variety of both juvenile and adult migratory fish species.

The Schnabel team has partnered with tribal entities, utilities, and resource agencies on projects driven by the need to rehabilitate aging structures, obtain FERC relicensing, and optimize existing resources to expand operations. Our portfolio includes bioprograms, the rehabilitation of existing hatcheries, expanded operations, and the design of many different types of incubation systems and rearing vessels including fiberglass starter troughs, concrete juvenile raceways, Cornell circular raceways, earthen ponds, and adult holding raceways. We also excel at hatchery master planning, evaluating and ranking modernization improvements built on a biological program tailored to each facility.

Our engineers have worked directly with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) engineers and biologists in the development and implementation of the fish screening criteria used today. This experience has taught us how to integrate hydraulic and mechanical engineering with fish behavior to create world-class screening facilities. Working within these facilities, we’ve gained experience with flow measurement, water diversion, fish protection, and many different fish-friendly pumping, screening, and cleaning systems.