(Above) The Carpinteria Creek fish passage project was supported by the California Fish Passage Forum in 2014. The project addressed the last major barrier to steelhead migration in the Carpinteria Creek watershed by removing the undersized bridge and concrete channel to meet fish passage criteria for all steelhead life stages. The project also replaced the existing bridge with a longer spanning bridge and natural stream channel that now provides steelhead access to the perennial habitat in the headwaters of Carpinteria Creek.

Assessing Effectiveness of Barrier Removals and Habitat Enhancements

The monitoring of fish passage projects has shown that if suitable habitat is present upstream of the barrier and/or fish have historically used upstream habitat, the likelihood of fish moving upstream and re‐occupying that habitat after successful barrier removal is high (SRFB 2009). Because of this, when implemented properly, fish passage improvements are a very popular kind of habitat restoration project and have great potential to create dramatic improvements in fish production in a very short time (1–5 years) (SRFB 2009).

Goals of Fish Passage Project Monitoring

The monitoring of fish passage projects should address three basic questions posed by O’Neal and Scranton (2014): 

1. Does the completed project reflect the design and requirements in the permit and/or funding application?
2. Has the engineered fish passage project continued to meet fish passage and design criteria post‐project for at least five years?
3. Has the fish passage project demonstrated upstream presence of target species (by lifestage) post‐project within five years?

Report of Monitoring Methods

Fish Passage Project monitoring methods are described by Ross Taylor and Associates for the California Fish Passage Forum in the Fish Passage Monitoring Methods report, (RTA, 2015).

This report describes which methods were used for a variety of fish passage projects across California, describes the utility of various methods, and makes recommendations for Tier 1 monitoring (implementation and basic performance) and Tier 2 monitoring (longer-term effectiveness and biological impact). 

Use of Monitoring Data

The California Fish Passage Forum aims to collect and record effective monitoring information from projects which the Forum has helped to support. Project monitoring is essential for project practitioners to demonstrate effectiveness and improve the long-term understanding of factors for effective fish passage restoration. 

Please use the following short form to describe the monitoring efforts for your fish passage restoration projects, and provide any monitoring data or reports, if available. 

This data will be examined by the group of fish passage experts from the Forum Science and Data Committee, which is developing a system for incorporating monitoring into known restoration project data collections, to both assess the effectiveness of barrier removal designs, and assess trends in anadromous fish distribution and abundance.