National Fish Passage Program
Since 1999, the FWS National Fish Passage Program has:
- Removed or bypassed 3,202 barriers to fish passage
- Reopened access to 57,736 miles of upstream habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms
- Reopened access to 193,783 acres of wetland habitat for fish and other animals
- Worked with over 2,000 partners across the country
Rivers and waterways provide a vast array of resources to communities, supplying us with water, power, and food. They are a source of recreational enjoyment and commerce, and are a prime gathering point for people in both urban and rural areas. With all the uses and demands on rivers and waterways, and resulting development of instream infrastructure, our rivers have become fragmented by millions of structures like dams, culverts, and levees. These instream barriers degrade aquatic habitat, create safety hazards, and lead to declines in fish populations.
The National Fish Passage Program works with local communities on a voluntary basis to restore rivers and conserve our nation’s aquatic resources by removing or bypassing barriers. Our projects benefit both fish and people. We work with communities to remove obsolete and dangerous dams, permanently eliminating public safety hazards and restoring river ecosystems. The program also works with transportation agencies and others to improve road stream crossings so that the streams can flow naturally beneath them. The resulting infrastructure is more resilient to flooding and benefits communities by saving money in long term repair and replacement costs. We collaborate with landowners to adapt water diversion systems so that the systems are efficient at retrieving and moving water as well as saving fish.
The program has benefited fish, wildlife, and people in numerous ways. Projects that restore fish passage develop community infrastructure resilience, rebuild fish populations and improve recreational and commercial fisheries, and restore the beauty of free flowing waters.
What is Fish Passage?
Removing barriers to reopen access to stream and wetland habitat, benefitting fish and people.
Fish Passage Contacts and Resources
Additional fish passage resources and contact information for Service employees involved in the National Fish Passage Program.
Migratory Species
Whether they travel long distances or stay closer to home, all fish need to move.
Working with the National Fish Passage Program
Fast facts about working with the National Fish Passage Program.
Highlights
First they fixed the dam problem with fish ladders. Now they want to build a river detour around a big ledge. The goal: 200,000 herring spawning in East Providence.
August 2020
Annual herring runs of that size could enrich the entire ecosystem of the Ten Mile River and the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay.
EAST PROVIDENCE — Not so long ago, the last of three fish ladders on the Ten Mile River was built, capping years of work costing millions of dollars to help herring get over dams that had blocked access to historic spawning grounds for more than a century.
But it turns out that it wasn’t just man-made obstructions that were keeping the fish from Turner Reservoir during their annual upriver migration each spring. A natural bedrock ledge just below the Hunt’s Mill Pond dam has also been stymieing progress of the little fish.
The conditions have to be just right for river herring to swim over the three-foot-high shelf. When waters are high, they churn up rapids that push the fish downriver. When they’re low, the leap necessary to clear the exposed stone is beyond the ability of most herring.
More Stories »
- Rare fish brings safe bridges to rural Missouri residents
- Burnt Mills Dam Removal, Lamington River, NJ
- Bloede Dam removal project complete: Patapsco River surges back to life
- Service takes aim at restoring rivers and river systems across the Northeast
- Blueheads & Bonnevilles
- Passage cleared on Middle Oconee River as dam is removed
- Environmental project near Dubois will help fish passage
- This Week in Fish and Wildlife: Conservation efforts for Cutthroat trout in the Upper Yellowstone
- Of Herring and Humans