The vertical slot fishways are hydraulic structures that allow the upstream migration of fishes through engineering constructions or natural obstructions in rivers. This type of pool fish pass is generally very effective in ensuring passage of the target species, particularly diadromous species. However, visual observations have shown that certain small species may be trapped in the large recirculation zones and seem to have difficulty in rapidly passing through very large pools. An experimental study was undertaken to characterize the turbulent flow for various configurations of vertical slot fishways and to determine how their characteristics might be modified in order to facilitate the passage of small species. The characteristics of mean flow and turbulence were studied by PIV and visualizations for several different slopes, flow discharges and pool widths. The results showed that the flow pattern always takes one of two topology models depending on the ratio length/width of the pool. In order to study the extent to which the dimensions of recirculation zones can be reduced, the effect of the insertion of vertical cylinders within the pools was visualized
