This thesis presents a comparative case study on two types of vertical slot fishways (VSF), one confined and one open design, under three different water levels. The study was made possible using Ansys Fluent, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, to investigate five key hydraulic parameters related to fishway functionalityfor salmon, including slot velocity, turbulence, hydraulic head, recirculation regions, and discharge. The study finds that the confined fishway does not meet therequirements for a fully functional fishway, as the hydraulic head differences between the pools were higher compared to the open fishway, resulting in exceeded slotvelocities and turbulence, while having insufficient discharge to attract salmon. Despite limitations and challenges, this study provides valuable insights into thehydraulic properties of fishways. Future work is recommended to reduce the hydraulic head differences and increasing discharge by improving the geometry of the confined fishway.