What is World Fish Migration Day?
Global awareness raising event
World Fish Migration Day (WFMD) culminates every two years in a global celebration to create awareness about the importance of migratory fish and free-flowing rivers. On World Fish Migration Day, thousands of organizations from around the world coordinate events around the common theme of: CONNECTING FISH, RIVERS AND PEOPLE.
Our mission is to build a global movement of river practitioners and people who love fish and rivers. We want to create awareness from New Zealand to Hawaii and share success stories. For the seventh WFMD edition (May 23, 2026) we selected the following theme: SWIMWAYS! We will to highlight the main routes that fish need to swim and how to protect these routes and how to open them up. Let's join up for another amazing event to celebrate our successes and share our challenges.
Between 2014 and 2024 this international day was coordinated by the World Fish Migration Foundation. From 2025 onwards this event will be organized by VENAE from the Netherlands, with Herman Wanningen as founder of the WFMD and former director of WFMF.
Read our FAQWhy Celebrate World Fish Migration Day?
Migratory fish are extraordinary.
They travel throughout rivers to fulfil their life cycles, some swimming more than 10,000 km! They navigate using the currents, magnetic fields, even their sense of taste and smell. Billions of people around the world depend on them for food, sport, research and intrigue. However, many migratory fish species are critically endangered or threatened. The main causes are man-made barriers which disrupt the natural flow of rivers and prevent their usual migratory routes. Many fish need to migrate to reproduce, feed and complete their life cycles. Migratory fish are a crucial link in the food chain and play an important role in creating healthy and productive river systems. Furthermore, they provide an important food supply and livelihood for millions of people around the world. They are ecologically, culturally, economically, and recreationally important!
Because of this, we need to ensure the survival of these species for generations to come. However, fishes typically do not receive the attention they deserve. For this reason, it is important we raise awareness about the plight of migratory fishes. Every event hosted for World Fish Migration Day helps to shine light on the issues and brings us one step closer to have rivers full of fish once again.
What do we want to achieve?
Our goals
The main goal of World Fish Migration Day is raising awareness for migratory fish and the rivers they (and we!) rely on. Creating awareness is an essential first step to make real change. World Fish Migration Day seeks to improve the public's understanding of the importance of migratory fish and how we can reduce our impact on them. The next step is to enable citizens of the world to take action. Ultimately, we aim to create sustainable commitments from NGOs, governments and industry on safeguarding free flowing rivers and restoring swimways for migratory fish!
World Fish Migration Day seeks to do just that. Our goals and ambitions for May 23, 2026 are:
• 500+ EVENTS
• 100+ COUNTRIES
• 200 MILLION PEOPLE IN GLOBAL REACH
• 75+ RIVER OPENING EVENTS
• 2,500+ KM OF RIVER RESTORED/PROTECTED
We can’t wait to see what our global community accomplishes this year to increase awareness and help us get closer to the ultimate goal of rivers full of fish! Ready to join?
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