Fish passage resources

New Zealand fish passage guidelines

Recommended best practice for designing instream structures to provide for fish passage.

New Zealand Fish Passage Guidelines

Fish passage assessment tool

An app and website to record and assess instream structures and their impact on fish passage. The information is also added to a database that is accessible to the public.

Fish passage assessment tool

Lessons learnt case studies

These case studies provide examples of fish passage problems and solutions, and show how different approaches were designed and installed. Monitoring results that show how well the modifications worked are also included. 

1. Installation of a fish ramp and baffles to restore fish passage at a perched culvert (PDF, 556K)
2. Installation of mussel spat rope to retrofit a perched culvert to improve passage for climbing fish (PDF, 556K)
3. Placement of downstream rock weir and installation of culvert baffles to enable salmonid passage (PDF, 556K)
4. Installation of a fish pass and baffles to promote trout passage through long perched culverts (PDF, 556K)
5. Fish friendly gate installation at Whakatane's Awatapu Lagoon facilitates upstream fish passage (PDF, 556K)
6. Fish passage facilitation by increasing flow and mussel spat rope installation on a dam spillway (PDF, 556K)
7. Retrofitting weirs to create fish ramps in Gibbons Creek, Hamilton (PDF, 556K)
8. Ford removal and replacement with a bridge (PDF, 383K)

If you have an example of fish passage remediation that would make a good lessons learnt case study, email advisorygroup@fishpassagenz.org.

Education and advocacy

These are some great resources that can be used to learn more about fish passage.

• Wonderful whitebait kids activity sheet (PDF, 3087)
• Awesome eels kids activity sheet (PDF, 661K)
• Salmon quest activity sheet (PDF, 6740K)
• The Fish Highway Ministry of Education

Fish passage factsheets and guidance

• Fish friendly culverts and rock ramps (2003) Greater Wellington Regional Council (PDF, 603K)
• Fish Passage in New Zealand Rivers, understanding fish habitat and simple solutions to allow fish passage over weirs, fords, bridge aprons and through culverts, Cawthron Institute (PDF, 853K)
• Environment Waikato Best Practice Guidelines for Waterway Crossings (2006) by D Speirs and G Ryan (PDF, 1168K)
• Appropriate use of mussel spat ropes to facilitate passage for stream organisms (2014) by David, B. Hamer, M., Tonkin, J. Bourke, C. Waikato Regional Council Technical Report 2014/29 (PDF, 2364K)
• Fish Passage Management Symposium 2013 - presentations and proceedings report 

Fish screen design for water intakes

• Fish Screening, good practice guidelines for Canterbury (2007) by D Jamieson, M Bonnett, D Jellyman and M Unwin, NIWA (PDF, 2341K)
  • Appendix 1: Native fish requirements for water intakes in Canterbury (PDF, 1211K)
  • Appendix 2: Criteria for fish screen design in Canterbury for sports fish (PDF, 159K)
  • Appendix 3: Fish protection at water diversions (PDF, 34576K)
  • Appendix 4: Fish protection technologies and downstream fishways (PDF, 37400K)
  • Appendix 5: Screening for intakes and outfalls: a best practice guide (PDF, 3672K)

• Findings from field investigations of six fish screens at irrigation intakes. Bonnett et al, 2014

Overseas resources 

These resources are not specific to New Zealand fish but contain general information about good fish passage management. 

• From Sea To Source website
• Stream Simulation: and ecological approach to providing passage for aquatic organisms at road-stream crossings (2008) US Department of Agriculture (PDF, 31,020K)
• Environment Agency Fish Pass Manual (2010) England and Wales (PDF, 10,229K)
• Fish Passes: design, dimensions and monitoring (2002) German Assn for Water Resources and Land Improvement (PDF, 2,317K)
• Culvert Fishway Planning and Design Guidelines (2010) James Cook University, Australia (PDF, 154K)
• Fish Passage Barrier and Surface Water Diversion Screening Assessment and Prioritisation Manual (2009) Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (PDF, 10,063K)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2002). Fish Passes – Design, Dimensions and Monitoring. Report produced in arrangement with Deutscher Verband für Wasserwirtschaft und Kulturbau e.V. (DVWK). Rome, 119p. ISBN 92-5-1048940
• Culvert design for Aquatic Organism Passage, Hydraulic Engineering Circular Number 26, FHWA-HIF-11-008 October 2010 (PDF, 9,097K)
• Hydraulic design of Highway Culverts, Third Edition, FHWA-HIF-12-026 HDS 5 (PDF, 48,141K)