Raritan river fish ladder:

[Mark B.]

Originally Posted by AndyS

I don't recall during my outings fishing near dams ever seeing fish swimming OVER the top of one, sorry.
New Jersey American Water is in charge of maintaining the ladder and the surroundings, looks like they just can't be bothered with such trivial things such as fish migration.

Down in the meadow in a
little bitty pool
Swam three little fishies
And a mama fishie too
"Swim," said the mama fishie,
"Swim if you can."
And they swam and they swam all
over the dam

Boop boop diten datem whatem choo
Boop boop diten datem whatem choo
Boop boop diten datem whatem choo
And they swam and they swam
right over the dam

"Stop!" cried the mama fish,
"Or you will get lost."
But the three little fishies
didn’t want to be bossed
The three little fishies
went off on a spree,
And they swam and
they swam right out
to the sea

Sorry,.....but there a lots of things we terrestrial humans don’t see in the water world. For the 38 years I’ve worked for the Division, I honestly can’t say that I’ve witnessed a fish swimming over a dam.

The ladder was built for the upstream spawning migration of A. shad & river herring.

No concentrated upstream migration occurs this time of year, & through the winter. Keeping the ladder closed prevents ice damage, & more debris from accumulating in the ladder. Clearing it out in the spring is BIG job.