New data could help scientists worldwide studying fish passage through dams

Tiny devices, smaller than a couple grains of rice, help provide reams of data as researchers track salmon around Northwest dams.

Scientists hope this data from juvenile Chinook salmon could help broaden the understanding of fish behavior and survival in an inexpensive and effective way at other dams around the world.

"We believe that this unique data set can be very useful to the scientific community for objectives beyond what we have done so far," said Daniel Deng, a mechanical engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who developed the tiny batteries for the tags.