NOAA Recommends $240 Million in Fish Passage Funding under Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act

NOAA 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. 

View the tribal priority fish passage projects recommended for funding

View the fish passage projects recommended for funding

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 to projects led by tribes, 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 
• 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 our first round of fish passage awards, which will provide significant benefits to endangered migratory fish and sustainable fisheries.

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. 

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. 

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 
• Building the capacity of new and existing partners to design projects and manage multi-faceted restoration efforts

Fish Passage and NOAA

Every year, millions of fish migrate to their spawning and rearing habitats to reproduce. Some fish need to swim thousands of miles through oceans and rivers to reach their destinations. They are often blocked from completing their journey by barriers like dams and culverts. When fish can’t reach their habitat, they can’t reproduce and maintain or grow their populations. As a result, many fish populations have declined. NOAA works to reopen these migratory pathways, restoring access to healthy habitat for fish. 

NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation has a long history conducting habitat restoration efforts, including fish passage, with large-scale competitive funding opportunities and expert technical assistance through our Community-based Restoration Program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act provide a historic opportunity for us to continue supporting fisheries, protected resources, and coastal communities. In our first round of funding opportunities, we awarded more than $480 million for 109 projects across the country through this funding.