fish ladder

noun

1. a series of ascending pools constructed to enable salmon or other fish to swim upstream around or over a dam.

fish ladder

noun

1. a row of ascending pools or weirs connected by short falls to allow fish to pass barrages or dams

Word History and Origins

Origin of fish ladder¹

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

Example Sentences

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year on improving fish ladders, hatchery programs, trucking and barging fish to get around the dam system, but it hasn’t been enough.

From Time

For fish swimming upstream, fish ladders on the side of the dams have been repeatedly improved to allow salmon migrating from the ocean to propel themselves from concrete eddy to concrete eddy upstream.

From Time

There's more good water—two miles of it—to the east, and all it needed was a fish-ladder around Scaur Falls.

From Project Gutenberg