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active transport, fish are moved or lifted by some means of mechanical assistance; the <br />fish are not required to voluntarily negotiate the barrier. Examples of active <br />transport include trapping and trucking, fish locks, fish elevators and fish hoists with <br />buckets. With passive transport, the fish are required to negotiate the barrier by <br />voluntarily swimming through the fish passageway. Fish ladders are the most <br />common example of passive transport. <br />There are several important concerns that must be addressed when fish <br />passageways are proposed as a recovery tool. <br />Estimating the recovery value of fish passageways <br />The relative contribution of a passageway to the recovery effort, as specified by <br />the intent of the Recovery Implementation Program, should be a primary consideration <br />when determining whether a fish passageway should be constructed at an existing <br />barrier. Indeed this concern for the contribution toward recovery should be applied to <br />all management efforts planned to aid the recovery of endangered fishes. Estimating <br />the value of fish passageways as tools for recovery of Colorado squawfish is <br />problematic, however, because the relative importance of movement restriction to the <br />decline of the species is unknown. Therefore the likely benefits to the squawfish <br />population of restoring some level of unrestricted movement around instream barriers <br />are equally uncertain. Moreover, because no passageway can be 100 percent <br />effective and pass all fish, the negative effect of the barrier on fish movement can <br />never be entirely mitigated by a passageway. Care must therefore be taken when <br />passageways are recommended for recovery because such structures can be <br />5