City of Mountlake Terrace, WA

Harris Environmental provided fish exclusion services required during de-watering of the Lake Ballinger Boat Ramp for the Ballinger Park Pier and Dock Replacement Project. Improvements included replacement of the existing boat ramp and dock, which required dewatering of the project area to complete. Our staff collaborated with the construction team to provide fish capture and removal from the project area simultaneous with dewatering inside a water-bladder coffer dam. We used 30 ft. knotted nylon fingerling seine nets, affixed together to allow up to 60 ft. of coverage, to drag the project area and capture fish, then used hand nets to place the fish in clean water buckets for relocation to lake waters outside the project area. Total fish exclusion was confirmed by our highly-qualified fisheries biologist and no mortality occurred. We identified and estimated counts of the following species: bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus), sculpin spp. (superfamily Cottoidea), smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), sucker spp. (Catostomus spp.), and yellow perch (Perca flavescens). A report of fish exclusion methods, efforts, and species removed was provided to the City of Mountlake Terrace upon completion of services.