Environmental

NOAA recommends $240 million in fish passage funding

NOAA recommends $240 million in fish passage funding

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S. is recommending nearly $240 million in funding for 46 fish passage projects this year, as well as an additional $38 million in funding in future years.

The projects are funded under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. “With this historic level of funding, our partners will reopen migratory pathways and restore access to healthy habitat for fish across the country,” NOAA said.

Twenty-one of these projects — more than $112 million in funding — will be led by tribes and tribal organizations. This will include projects for fish passage and for building tribal organizational capacity. In addition, more than half of the remaining projects will directly involve tribes and are aligned with tribal priorities. Across these projects, tribes will:

  • Play key roles in decision-making
  • Build capacity to help recover tribally-important migratory fish
  • Provide community and economic benefits such as jobs and training opportunities 

These projects will help recover endangered migratory fish and support the sustainability of commercial, recreational and tribal fisheries. They will also support coastal communities by removing derelict and unsafe dams, removing contaminated sediments, improving opportunities for recreation, and adapting to climate change by reducing flooding and improving threatened infrastructure.

This funding builds on the more than $166 million awarded for 36 projects through a first round of fish passage awards, which will provide significant benefits to endangered migratory fish and sustainable fisheries, NOAA said.

Tribal priority fish passage projects recommended for funding

NOAA is recommending more than $81 million in funding for 19 projects selected through the Restoring Tribal Priority Fish Passage through Barrier Removal funding opportunity. Click here for a complete list of projects. These include the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians investigating fish passage alternatives for two hydropower dams in Michigan: Tower and Kleber.

These projects will support tribes in their role as managers and stewards of tribal trust resources for cultural, spiritual, economic, subsistence and recreational purposes. They will support tribally important fish passage barrier removal projects and help to increase tribal capacity to participate in developing current and future fish passage projects.

Fish passage projects recommended for funding

NOAA is recommending more than $158 million in funding for 27 projects selected through the Restoring Fish Passage through Barrier Removal funding opportunity. Click here for a complete list of projects. This includes the Choctawhatchee, Pea, and Yellow Rivers Watershed Management Authority taking initial planning and design steps toward removing the defunct Elba Hydroelectric Dam Project in Alabama and the City of Auburn removing Littlefield Dam, a former hydropower project, in Maine.

These projects will help restore access to healthy habitat for migratory fish across the country through efforts, including on-the-ground fish passage restoration, engineering and design, future project development, and building the capacity of new and existing partners to design projects and manage multi-faceted restoration efforts.