The Fish Passage Career Achievement Award recognizes the efforts of an influential professional whose contributions to the field of fish passage have enhanced fisheries resources.

Consideration is given to:

• Length of service
• Contributions to the field
• Imagination and innovation
• Partnership and outreach activities
• Support of interdisciplinary efforts
• Leadership

Any biologist, engineer, or program manager with appreciable career experience working in the field of fish passage. Experience may include field work, design and analysis, research, teaching, regulatory work, management, outreach, or program administration. Recipients may be from private industry, academia, tribal organizations, non-governmental organizations, or government agencies. Members of the 2025 Advisory Board and Organizing Committee are not eligible. Nominations for the FP2025 conference cycle are now open. The due date for submissions is January 10, 2025. Submissions after this date will be considered for the award at FP2026. Please forward and questions about the process to any member of the advisory board or coordination team.

The recipient will be selected by the Conference Advisory Board. The recipient’s name will remain confidential until the public award ceremony at the conference.

• Ben Rizzo (2011)
• Boyd Kynard (2012)
• Kozmo Ken Bates (2013)
• Robert Gubernick (2014)
• Michel Larinier & François Travade (2015)
• Steve Rainey (2016)
• Stephen Gephard (2017)
• Martin Mallen-Cooper (2018)
• Christos Katopodis (2020)
• Alexander Haro (2022)
• Laura Wildman (2024)

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Each nominated project will be evaluated with the following eight criteria:

Monitoring and evaluation – Monitoring report / findings and data are required for submittal. Telemetry, fish trapping, physical observations counts, or other monitoring techniques should be used as the basis of the findings. The monitoring report should describe methods and analysis of both pre and post construction.

• Ecological gain for passage and habitat for endangered and native species
• Innovation and technical excellence
• Stakeholder collaboration and community based support
• Education and public involvement
• Effective application of resources (financial and matching)
• Implementation according to design intent and adaptive to field conditions
• Inspirational value

The project award task group will use these criteria to score and rank the projects following a matrix with higher weightings for the performance effectiveness criteria. Priority will be given to projects that have demonstrated effectiveness and fulfilment of restoration goals, as illuminated by a well-designed monitoring plan and system.

The winning project(s) will be selected by the EWRI-AFS Joint Committee on Fisheries Engineering and Science and notified a few weeks after the nomination deadline. The awarded project(s) and leaders will receive official recognition, tokens of appreciation, and presentation of the award at the Fish Passage 2025 conference near Three Gorges Dam (China). The winning project will also be listed on the Fish Passage Conference website and will have the opportunity to present their work through the ASCE-EWRI/AFS-BES Joint Committee on Fisheries Engineering and Science Webinar Series. It is requested that at least one representative of the winning project be present to receive the award at the conference banquet and give a short presentation of the project during the conference.

• China Lake Alewife Restoration Initiative

  presented to Landis Hudson (Maine Rivers, Executive Director); Matt Streeter (Maine Rivers, Project Manager); Nate Gray (Maine State Department of Marine Resources, Scientist).

  2024

• Restoring the Continuity of Two Rivers in Southern Poland

  presented to: Mr. PRZEMYSŁAW DACA (President of the State Water Holding Polish Waters); Mrs. MAŁGORZATA SIKORA (Director of the Regional Water Management Board in Krakow – State Water Holding Polish Waters); Mr. TOMASZ TOMALA (Head of the Political Cabinet of the Minister of Infrastructure for their project)

  2022

• LIFEDrawaPL – Active Protection of Water-Crowfoots Habitats and Restoration of Wildlife Corridor in the River Drawa Basin in Poland

  presented to: Aleksandra Stodulna (RDEP – Regional Director of Environment Protection in Szczecin); Beata Gąsiorowska; Małgorzata Ćwiklińska; Aneta Radecka; Mariola Wróbel (PhD, West Pomeranian University of Technology); Artur Furdyna (external water ecology consultant); Mariusz Raczyński (PhD RDEP Szczecin); Wojciech Wójcik (external IT service); Paweł Bilski (Steering Committee – PhD, Director of Drawieński National Park); Piotr Dębowski (Steering Committee – PhD prof. Institute of Inland Fisheries- migratory fish expert); Robert Czerniawski (PhD Steering Committee – prof. Szczecin University); Józef Jeleński (Steering Committee- Eng. expert of riverbed morphology restoration)

  2020

• Fish Passage Research and Development at Low-head Barriers in South-east Asia

  presented to: Dr. Lee Baumgartner (Charles Sturt University); Dr. Craig Boys (Port Stephens Fisheries Institute); Prof. Chris Barlow (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research); Dr. Joanne Miller (Charles Sturt University); Khampheng Homsombath (Living Aquatic Resources Research Centre); Douangkham Singhanouvong (Living Aquatic Resources Research Centre); Dr. Wayne Robinson (Charles Sturt University); Garry Thorncraft (National University of Laos); Dr. Oudom Phonekhampheng (National University of Laos); Thonglom Phommavong (National University of Laos); Phousone Vorsane (National University of Laos); Tim Marsden (Australasian Fish Passage Services); Dr. Nathan Ning (Charles Sturt University); Dr. Ivor Stuart (Kingfisher Research); Jarrod McPherson (Charles Sturt University); Brett Kelly (AWMA Solutions); Dr. Brett Pflugrath (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory); Thavone Phommavong (Pak Peung Village)

  2018

• Soda Springs Dam Fish Passage, North Umpqua River, Oregon USA

  presented to: Rich Grost, Scott Schevenius, Eric Hansen, Tim Hemstreet, Mark Sturtevant, Steve Albertelli, Monte Garrett, and the North Umpqua Hydropower Project Crew (PacificCorp); Clint Smith (MWH Americas); Dirk Pedersen (Stillwater Sciences); George Gilmour (Meridian Environmental); Resource Coordination Committee (BLM, ODEQ, ODFW, OWRD, NMFS, USFS, USFWS)

  2017

• Habitat Restoration for Diadromous Fish in the River Mondego

  presented to: Pedro Raposo de Almeida (Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE), Department of Biology, School of Sciences and Technology, University of Évora, Portugal); Isabel Domingos (Foundation of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisboa, Portugal); Luís Simão (Mora Freshwater Aquarium, Parque Ecológico do Gameiro, Mora, Portugal); Maria Felisbina Quadrado (Portuguese Environmental Agency, Amadora, Portugal); Gonçalo Carrasqueira (Forest and Nature Conservation Institute, Lisboa, Portugal); Yorgos Stratoudakis (Portuguese Sea and Atmosphere Institute (IPMA), Lisboa, Portugal); Nuno Portal (EDP, Gestão da Produção de Energia, S.A., Porto, Portugal); Cristina Rosa (Diretorate General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM), Lisboa, Portugal); Fernando Lopes (Sea Lamprey Brotherhood, Penacova, Portugal); Fernanda Veiga (City Council of Penacova, Penacova, Portugal); Mário Magalhães Maia, City Council of Vila Nova de Poiares, Vila Nova de Poiares, Portugal); João Pardal (City Council of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal)

  2016

• Salto de San Fernando: Problems and Solutions

  presented to: GEA-ecohydraulics (ETSIIAA Palencia), SSF S.L. (Town Hall and private associates), Duero Basin Authority (CHD-Water Public Domain Control Service), State Fisheries Section (Salamanca), Fishermen Associations (Peña de la Cruz de Béjar)

  2015

• Acushnet River Fish Passage Restoration

  presented to: NOAA Restoration Center, EA Engineering, Science and Technology, Inc., US Fish and Wildlife Service, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, Buzzards Bay Coalition, US Geological Survey, The New Bedford Harbor Trustee Council, and the Town of Acushnet.

  2014

• Development and Application of the Uniform Acceleration Bypass Weir for Downstream Passage at Dams and Water Intakes

  presented to: Alex Haro, Theodore Castro-Santos, and John Noreika (Conte Anadromous Fish Research Laboratory, U. S. Geological Survey); George Hecker and Steve Amaral (Alden Research Laboratory); Robert Stira (Firstlight Power Resources); and Lynn Reese (U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District)

  2013

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