LOS ANGELES (AP) - Less than a decade after spending $1 million on a fish ladder that was supposed to help steelhead trout negotiate Santa Paula Creek, the federal government may spend another $7.5 million to design and build a new one.

There are now less than 500 steelhead left from Point Conception in Santa Barbara County to the Mexico border.

Fish ladders are designed to help the fish swim around manmade barriers so they can go upstream and lay eggs.

The first ladder failed because it was not designed to handle the large amounts of water and sediment that sometimes floods the creek. The pools between each step of the ladder where the fish rest between each jump got clogged with debris, making it impossible for the fish to climb upstream.