Our Services

The National Fish Passage Program improves community infrastructure resilience, rebuilds fish populations, improves recreational and commercial fisheries, and restores the beauty of free-flowing waters. We provide financial and technical assistance to support projects that improve 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

Project proposals may be initiated by any individual, organization, government, or agency, in cooperation with their local Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. Contact a Fish Passage Coordinator in your area or contact your local Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, to discuss the project and learn more about the technical assistance that is available. 

Technical and Planning Assistance 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and engineers are available to provide assistance in the planning, design, implementation, and monitoring of select fish passage projects.  

Fish Passage Engineering 

Experienced civil and hydraulic engineers working in the fields of fish passage and protection can provide technical assistance in the planning, design, and evaluation of projects to improve conservation outcomes. 

Financial Assistance 

The National Fish Passage Program provides funding to support fish passage projects You must work with a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office Biologist to be considered for funding.  To begin this process, please contact your Regional Fish Passage Coordinator or your local Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. 

Get Started

Fish passage project proposals can be initiated by any individual, organization, government, or agency. However proposals must be submitted and completed in cooperation with a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. (Please note that fish passage projects being used for Federal or State compensatory mitigation or required by existing Federal or State regulatory programs are not eligible for funding through the National Fish Passage Program. )

Our Projects and Research

The National Fish Passage Program works with local communities on a voluntary basis to remove barriers and restore rivers for the benefit both fish and people. Fish passage projects address issues related to climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change
and serve disadvantaged communities while spanning the nation geographically and addressing a wide array of diverse aquatic resource issues. 

Explore our past successes and future projects featuring investments in Tribal lands, climate resiliency, imperiled species.

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This project will help restore hundreds of miles of currently restricted habitats for river herring and other sea-run species on the international Skutik/St. Croix River watershed at the Milltown, Woodland, and Grand Falls dams. The current funded project will contribute to the construction of...

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For nearly 100 years, the Ela Dam has been smothering the streambed downstream and severing the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians from their ancestral waters and many of their first foods. An accidental release of sediment from the dam in 2021 further exacerbated the problem and prompted local...

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Looming over one of the most culturally significant sites in north central Washington, Similkameen Falls, the Enloe Dam has blocked salmon and steelhead from migrating into the upper portion of this watershed for over 100 years. Removing the dam will open up over 1,520 miles of cold-water...

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This project builds on the decades of devoted efforts among federal, state, Tribal, and non-governmental organizations to restore aquatic connectivity and organism passage in the headwaters of the Salt River Basin and adjacent Little Colorado River watershed. Efforts led by the White Mountain...

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The Great Miami River Watershed Barrier Removal and Habitat Restoration project represents a collective effort by communities inspired by the Great Miami Riverway, to integrate ecological benefits with local economic and recreational investments. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental...