Burbot and large hydropower in North America: benefits, threats and research needs for mitigation

In North America, burbot Lota lota (L.), interactions with hydropower are common, southern burbot populations are endangered and hydropower has been implicated in the decline. Thus, the objectives of this review were to identify threats and benefits of hydropower to riverine and reservoir dwelling burbot, assess overall impacts and identify key research needs for mitigation. Review findings suggest that while winter hydropower discharge regimes threaten riverine burbot spawning, burbot often successfully exploit reservoir environments. Further, while turbine entrainment has been hypothesised as a factor in the decline of burbot populations, low adult vulnerability to passage and a high resilience to juvenile removals likely mean risk to populations is low. Identified research needs include better definitions of flow and temperature requirements for riverine burbot and a quantification of the potential for reservoirs to act as source populations for downstream impacted zones. This review highlights the Pacific watershed focus of existing work and calls for status assessments and ecological research of burbot in North American Arctic and Atlantic watersheds where large hydropower and burbot interactions are common yet rarely studied.