SUNBURY -- Five years later and state Rep. Merle Phillips still hasn't given up on the fish ladder.

Phillips, R-108 of RR2 Sunbury, first put money for the fish ladder in the capital budget in 2003. At that time, the estimate for the project was $5.3 million. Gov. Edward Rendell supported the project and released the money to fund it.

But when the bids came back in 2005, Phillips said, they came in at a little more than $7 million.

In 2006, he put $10 million into the capital budget, just to be safe, and has been fighting ever since to get the additional money needed for the project released.

"Now it's a matter of getting more (money) to finish it off," he said.

The state representative assured a crowd of more than 100 Sunbury residents at Tuesday's community forum in Shikellamy High School that he would continue to lobby for the project.

The fish ladder is vital not just for economic reasons, because it would attract shad fishermen to the area, but for ecological reasons as well.

As they travel upstream to get to the headwaters of the Susquehanna River to spawn, the shad get stuck at the Adam T. Bower Memorial Dam. The ladder would make it possible for the fish to traverse the dam.

"It would be a boon for the area. Anything you can do to increase individuals coming into the area, it generates more money," he said. "And it's something that should be done. The shad should be able to get past the fabridam."

The presence of the dam, which forms Lake Augusta when it's inflated in the spring and summer months, also has caused a significant amount of erosion along the riverbank near Sunbury's flood wall, Phillips said.

The installation of the fish ladder would include additional erosion prevention measures, all of which would be paid for by the state.

The project has been endorsed by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Fish and Boat Commission, he said. "It's just a matter now of getting the money."

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