Fish Need to Move! Fish Migration

Learning About Fish Migration

Designing Fish-Friendly Culverts (and bridges) is an environmental education science lesson about fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.

Learn more about fish passage . This hands-on lesson can be adapted to other grade levels as well. All materials are easy to download and public domain which means that this information is available to the public as a whole, and therefore not subject to copyright.

Introduction to Fish Migration

Fish need to move! They need to find food, find places to spawn, to hide or rest - and they need aquatic connections between all of these places. Were you aware that over 6-million man-made barriers, in the U.S. alone, keep fish from getting to where they need to go to grow and survive?

Discover why fish migrate, learn about barriers to their migration, and how to make a barrier more fish-friendly.

As you review the materials, consider adapting the lesson using migratory fish found in the waterways near you. You can learn more about the fish where you live by visiting your state's fish and game website.

For Teachers and Non-Formal Educators

Designing Fish-Friendly Culverts (and bridges) is a hands-on lesson about the amazing lives of migratory fish, and how barriers to their migration impact their survival. Upon completion of the lesson, students will have designed a fish-friendly culvert and demonstrated how their design will help fish thrive.

Lesson Plan: Designing Fish-Friendly Culverts (and bridges)

Key Issues/Concepts Include: Fish Passage, Fish Migration, Habitat Fragmentation, Aquatic Connectivity and Environmental Sustainability
Grade Levels: 5 – 8
Time Required: 1 – 2 Hours

Lesson Components: 

• The Problem with Blue Brook
• Structure Shapes Worksheet
• Fish Passage Project Photos Showing a Fish-Friendly Culvert Compared to a Culvert that is Not Fish-Friendly
• Animated Video: Did you know? Fish migrate too!
• Things to Think About as You Design Your Culvert
• What Makes Migration Tough (8x11 poster)
• What Makes Migration Tough (11x17 poster)
• What Makes Migration Tough (legal size poster)
• What Makes Migration Tough (worksheet and answer key)

Additional Education Resources

How can you help migratory fish? Use these additional products to learn more about fish and fish migration. And become a fish watcher! You never know what you might see.
Fish Facts 
Animated Video

Lesson and materials created for Fish and Aquatic Conservation’s National Fish Passage Program. The 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.