National Fish Passage Program

The National Fish Passage Program depends on strong partnerships with individuals, organizations, local governments, and agencies to conduct 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 projects. We often collaborate with state fish and wildlife departments, other federal agencies, tribes, and transportation agencies.

Who do we partner with?

We partner with nonprofit organizations, from national organizations like Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and American Rivers to local watershed groups. The program works with private landowners, ranchers, cities and towns, and we collaborate with large companies, like Coca-Cola, and those more locally known such as Founders Brewing Company in Michigan.

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we’re a river.” This old saying is especially true for the National Fish Passage Program. This partnership program has proven successful because of the many people – from grassroots volunteers to renowned biologists -- working together to keep fish migration routes open, improve aquatic conservation, and preserve the outdoors for the American people.