Oregon scientists fitted 100 lampreys with tiny 0.08-gram acoustic tags to track their movements past hydropower dams

Newly developed microtags are a breakthrough technology essential to boosting Oregon’s wildlife conservation at hydropower dams.

Across the United States, hydroelectric energy has become more fundamental in providing baseload power capacity.

But as legacy infrastructure is upgraded, developers are also tasked with ensuring that migrating fish species are safeguarded.

For Oregon water managers, the technology provides the high-resolution migration data needed to adapt spillway operations and protect vital species.

Yet, tracking slender juvenile species has been challenging for decades, until now.

Will this new technology provide critical data needed to boost overall sustainability?

How hydropower has become more relevant to modern America

Over the past century, hydropower has been the core pillar that built the United States’ industrial economy.

However, the nation’s energy needs have drastically shifted as society has become more digitized and electrified.

This has made the power source more crucial, as it is key to sustaining the modern age.

U.S. data centers are the main contributors to the nation’s surging electricity consumption.

Currently, they use over 190 terawatt-hours of power annually.

Furthermore, total demand is predicted to reach 10% of the U.S. power grid by 2030.

This unprecedented growth is placing immense stress on regional transmission networks.

Meanwhile, utilities are also mandated to meet aggressive federal policy targets.

These targets demand a rapid shift toward zero-carbon energy generation.

To satisfy both, nationwide interest in legacy hydroelectric facilities has increased.

This is because they provide dispatchable, constant clean baseload electricity, bridging peak demand supply gaps and stabilizing grids.

Modernizing legacy infrastructure while meeting aquatic conservation policies

As electricity demand continues to surge, modernizing America’s aging hydropower fleet has become urgent.

Most structures are decades old, requiring hardware retrofits and operational upgrades to maximize power output.

However, operators cannot add these upgrades without determining potential local environmental impacts.

Federal regulations and regional conservation policies strictly regulate dam operations and their physical upgrades.

Pacific Northwest states such as Oregon have tight wildlife mandates to safeguard migrating aquatic species.

Facility operators must prove that structural upgrades will not block vital fish migration routes or harm sensitive river ecosystems.

But balancing maximum electricity generation with strict environmental compliance is operationally challenging.

Highly accurate behavioral data is needed to assess how migrating fish navigate spillways and turbines, as well as bypass systems.

While adult species are tracked using traditional acoustic tags, these tags are often too large for smaller, more slender species.

Fortunately, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers came up with a solution.

A micro solution that makes a big difference in Oregon waters

Methods to track migrating fish species have become more innovative.

PNNL researchers created the Eel/Lamprey Acoustic Transmitter (ELAT) to bridge long-standing research gaps.

 

This technology is a microtag that weighs only 0.0028 ounces and measures under 0.5 inches in length.

It is tiny enough to safely implant into slender juvenile species, specifically young, fragile, small-bodied lampreys and eels.

The tag complies with fish welfare guidelines requiring transmitters to be under 2% of total body weight.

An integrated custom design to enhance tracking

The flexible, thin tag consists of:

• Miniaturized circuitry
• A custom micro-battery
• Underwater acoustic transducers

It is inserted into fish with a simple surgical procedure.

Once this is completed, the transmitter emits unique acoustic pings detected by river hydrophones.

This enables tracking individual fish movements in real time through complex dam systems without changing swimming dynamics.

The innovative ELAT moved into practical application in late 2026, when 100 juvenile lampreys in Celilo, Oregon, were fitted.

Successful field demonstrations led to licensing the design to Advanced Telemetry Systems for commercial manufacturing.

For Oregon water managers, the technology provides the high-resolution migration data needed to adapt spillway operations and protect vital species. Ultimately, this breakthrough will help boost the conservation of fragile aquatic ecosystems across America’s hydropower facilities.