Water intakes across New Zealand serve irrigation, hydro-electric generation, drinking water and industrial needs. Many native diadromous fish migrate in and/or out of rivers to complete their life cycles, while even non-diadromous species move within waterways, risking entrainment in water intakes throughout most rivers. Historically, fish screens in New Zealand were designed to protect introduced salmonids. Water approach velocity was the focus of early designs because juvenile salmonids are actively swimming/migrating pelagic fish that respond to accelerating water velocity by turning away from and avoiding the water accelerating towards the screen surface. However, many native fish, with different swimming behaviours, do not react to increasing water velocity by swimming away, instead exhibiting ‘clamping, clinging, or climbing’-like behaviours on the screen surface. It is important that critical through-screen velocities avoid protracted impingement and enable native fish to release themselves from the screen surface to swim away undamaged. We will discuss the challenges and opportunities in designing fish screen facilities that accommodate the behaviours of native fish.