Fishpass: A Decision Support Tool for Optimizing Barrier Mitigation

FISHPass is a user-friendly software that allows optimization of fish barriers based on analysis of potential fish passage barrier removal scenarios. The California Fish Passage Forum collaborated with Drs. Jesse R. O’Hanley and Paul S. Kemp to develop and refine the tool, which helps strategically prioritize and efficiently implement fish passage barrier remediation throughout the anadromous waters of California. By incorporating existing barrier data (e.g., California Fish Passage Assessment Database), FISHPass allows users to develop optimal barrier remediation solutions (versus ranking and scoring) based on a wide variety of desired outcomes and potential constraints. FISHPass integrates information on barrier passability, potential habitat, and mitigation cost, and accounts for spatial structure of barrier networks and interactive effects of mitigation decisions on longitudinal connectivity. The Forum is currently working on strengthening the ability to estimate and balance factors, such as quality of habitat gained, cost constraints, differential species preferences and regionally unique priorities to attain the most efficient fish passage remediation at the local, watershed, regional, and state scale. As the tool is further refined, it has potential for utility throughout the United States.