By Nann A. Fangue
. . .
UC Davis will host the International Fish Passage Conference on May 4-8, 2026. Please join us for this opportunity to engage with fish passage practitioners working across academia, government, utilities, consultancy, and other professional organizations while enjoying the beautiful springtime of Davis and the greater Sacramento region. The International Fish Passage Conference seeks to strengthen the network of professionals from all over the world who are working on fish passage and related fields. The four themes of the conference this year are Restoration, Revitalization, Remediation and Reintroduction.
The first fish passage conference was held in 2011 at UMASS and was such a success that it was held there again in 2012 and 2016. Since then, the conference has been held in Oregon (twice), Wisconsin, The Netherlands, Australia, Washington state, Quebec, and most recently, China. 2026 will be the 12th Fish Passage Conference and the first time to be held in California!
As is tradition for the Fish Passage Conference, a partnership with an Academic Institution is a valuable component offering opportunities to bring together researchers and practitioners studying the challenges fish face worldwide and within different regions. The University of California, Davis, has programs in fisheries science and research along with other natural resources sciences and environmental engineering. The UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology is excited to host the conference in partnership with a cohort of co-organizers from various state and federal agencies, tribal leadership, consulting firms, and other universities.
What will the Conference include?
The conference organizers have developed an exciting program of workshops, plenary talks, concurrent technical sessions, a poster session, field trips, and social events. The first day, May 4, will include several workshops with an evening welcome reception at Ruhstaller Farm. Over the following three days, May 5-7, the conference will include keynote addresses in the plenary session, four concurrent technical sessions facilitating up to 160 oral presentations, exhibitors, an evening poster session, a fun run/walk, and a banquet at the California State Railroad Museum in old Sacramento. There will be long breaks in between sessions to enable networking opportunities. Two awards will also be bestowed at the conference, one for “Career Achievement” and another for a “Distinguished Fish Passage Project”. The last day, May 8, includes several field trips to tour featured regional fish passage projects. Full registration for the conference includes the welcome reception, poster session refreshments, lunch and break refreshments each day, and a banquet dinner ticket. Registration is now open, and regular registration closes April 4. For more information about the awards please see: https://fishpassage.fisheries.org/awards/
Why should you attend?
The fish passage conference facilitates the exchange of cutting-edge technical applications in the field along with relating regional, national, and international project experience. It can also facilitate career-changing relationships between all kinds of sectors of professional societies. This is an opportunity to not only gather with national, state and local colleagues, but to network with practitioners from all over the world. Additionally, this will provide the first opportunity to attend the conference in California and is especially well-suited for graduate students and early career researchers. The conference intends to offer travel stipends and discounted registration for students that apply.
Who is the Joint Committee on Fisheries Engineering and Science?
In 2010, in an effort to foster greater collaboration and a nexus for multidisciplinary discussions, the Joint Committee on Fisheries Engineering and Science joined with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to arrange the first fish passage conference. The Joint Committee is a permanent standing committee of both the American Fisheries Society Bioengineering Section (AFS-BES) and the American Society of Civil Engineers Environmental and Water Resources Institute (ASCE-EWRI).
The Joint Committee is a professional “‘home”’ for fisheries engineers and scientists and other professionals who work closely with those disciplines. Formed by and consisting of members of both ASCE-EWRI and AFS-BES, it serves to provide a nexus for collaboration on fish passage, fish screening, hydropower technology, habitat protection and restoration. The committee organizes the annual conference, hosts quarterly free webinars on fish passage and restoration, maintains a fish passage data base, and issues the Distinguished Fish Passage Project award. For more information please see https://units.fisheries.org/fishpassagejointcommittee/
Please join us at UC Davis May 4-8, 2026!
About the Author
Nann A. Fangue, Ph.D. (she/her/hers), is the Chair of the Department of Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology and Professor of Physiological Ecology at the University of California Davis.
Further Information
For more information on the organizing committee or other conference details, see: https://fishpassage2026.ucdavis.edu/committees
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