Migratory Fish Passage

The main impediments to restoring steelhead trout and salmon runs in Alameda Creek have been fish passage barriers that prevented adult fish from moving upstream to suitable spawning and rearing habitat in the upper watershed. Some of these barriers could also pose problems for juvenile fish attempting to complete their life cycle by moving from fresh water rearing habitat downstream to the Bay.

Largely as a result of community organizing and political pressure by the ACA, there are now 15 local, state, and federal agencies compoleting almost all of the needed fish passage projects within the Alameda Creek watershed. The Alameda Creek Fisheries Restoration Workgroup is a stakeholder group formed in 1999 to address fisheries restoration issues. As of 2021, 15 of the needed fish passage projects in the watershed have been completed, 2 projects are under construction and 3 more are in the planning stages. See our Alameda Creek Fish Barrier Removal Progress Scorecard.