Fish Passage Training Portal and Checklists

In 2023, the AFSBES Education Committee, in partnership with ASCE-EWRI/AFS-BES Joint Committee on Fisheries Science and Engineering (the Joint Committee) created two sets of tools for upcoming Fisheries Engineering and Science Professionals.
UPDATES – This webpage portal is updated biannually in July and January of each year. The next update is scheduled for July 2025.  
 

Disclaimer

Steeppass Fishway with Blind Email Trap - Fishing Brook Fishway, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, US

Steeppass Fishway with Blind Eel Ramp and Trap – Fishing Brook Fishway, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, US

These training resources and links to electronic data has been compiled for the sole intent and purpose of making such information available to end users for use at their discretion. Inclusion in these resources is provided without guarantee and does not imply endorsement or judgement of accuracy by AFS, ASCE, or the Joint Committee on Fisheries Science and Engineering. 
Since regulations, practices, and engineering guidelines change over time, it is the end-user’s responsibility to confirm applicability of any resource with pertinent site-specific, agency, regional, and/or funding requirements. These documents are intended to be used as an educational resource for reference and technical advancement, but do not replace the need for formal training or for mentoring and guidance by experienced practitioners in the field of practice. 
Please read all applicable “README” files or tabs before using each resource.

 

Fish Passage Training Portal

 

The Fish Passage Training Portal is intended to serve as a “first-stop shop to search for  trainings in the fields of fish passage and river restoration. The purpose of this Portal is to house a user-friendly compilation of links to available trainings, focusing on project implementation at all phases of a project. 

Fish Passage Training Portal – Files(s) for Download

 

Checklists

Fish ladder Reconstruction - Harvey Dam, Santa Paula Creek, California, US

Fish ladder Reconstruction – Harvey Dam, Santa Paula Creek, California, US

 

A series of for implementing fish passage and habitat projects as a service to our community of practice, particularly newer practitioners and on the ground project managers. These checklists are provided with the intent of fostering more successful projects with fewer missteps and less backtracking.  Each provides guidelines for stepping through the feasibility assessment, design, or project management of different project types.

Nine project-specific checklists have been compiled in Excel spreadsheets to assist fish passage practitioners and are provided for download below. 

 

               Fish Passage Checklists – Files(s) for Download

File NameDownload LinkFile Size
AOP-Stream Simulation Design ChecklistAOPStreamSimChecklist_v1.1_20250114.xlsx6.2 MB
Small Dam Removal Project Management ChecklistSmallDam_Checklist_v.1.1_20250117.xlsx4.6 MB
Eel Pass ChecklistEelPass_Checklist_v.1.0_20230426.xlsx97.1 KB
Fishway Design and Construction ChecklistFishwayConstruction_Checklist_v.1.1_20250121.xlsx96.7 KB
Profile Control Feasibility ChecklistProfileControlFeasibility_Checklist_v.1.1_20250121.xlsx75.7 KB
Profile Control Scope of Work ChecklistProfileControlScopeOfWork_Checklist_v.1.1_20250121.xlsx184 KB
Small Fish Screen Feasibility ChecklistSmallFishScreenFeasibility_Checklist_v.1.1_20250121.xlsx179 KB
Small Fish Screen Scope of Work ChecklistSmallScreenScopeOfWork_Checklist_v.1.1_20250121.xlsx198 KB
Stage Zero Design ChecklistStage-Zero-Work-Breakdown-Structure-v1.1_20250121.xlsx1004 KB

 

 Glossary

 

A glossary of terms related to fish passage and stream restoration implementation has been compiled from various sources into a single file for ease of reference.

Glossary – Files(s) for Download

File NameDownload LinkFile Size
Fish Passage GlossaryGlossary_v.1.0_20230428.xlsx149 KB

Acknowledgements

Steeppass Fishway with Eel Pass formed by Black Hose - Millpond Dam Fishway, Essex, Connecticut, US

Steeppass Fishway with Eel Pass formed by Black Hose – Millpond Dam Fishway, Essex, Connecticut, US

This first version of the Training Portal and Checklists has been a concerted, expedited, pro-bono effort of volunteers from the AFS Bioengineering Section (AFS-BES) Education Committee. The core ad hoc members are:

  • Rachael Weiter
  • Laura Wildman
  • Steve Gephard
  • Bob Gubernick
  • Mike Garello
  • Larissa Rohrbach
  • Marcin Whitman
  • Brett Towler
     

Reviewers included:

Dam Site after Removal - Walton's Mill Dam Removal, Farmington, Maine, US

Dam Site after Removal – Walton’s Mill Dam Removal, Farmington, Maine, US

  • The Joint Committee for Fisheries Engineering and Science
  • The BES Executive Committee
  • Randy Beckwith, chair of the BES Education Committee
  • A volunteer ad hoc review team:
    • Derek Acomb
    • Dan Giza
    • John Field

Special thanks to Amy Singler of American Rivers and Shannon Boyle of the Interagency Fish Passage Task Force for their contributions.

The Interagency Fish Passage Task Force has created an additional portal for information on fish passage and aquatic connectivity projects as they relate to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which can be found at https://interagency-bil-fish-passage-project-1-fws.hub.arcgis.com/

American Rivers has compiled additional tools and resources for river restoration at https://www.americanrivers.org/conservation-resources/river-restoration/

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