Incentive programs are helping water users implement modern fish-protection screens as best practice for water access in Australia. To date, most progress has occurred in New South Wales (NSW) under two large programs: the $13.5m Macquarie River Screening Program and the $20m Northern Basin Toolkit Fish-friendly Water Extraction Program. By 2026, these programs will screen 53 water pumps across 18 sites, protecting 1.4 million native fish annually and delivering 4,431 ML/d of cleaner water. These will add to other, smaller programs to bring the total number of fish protected to 1.7 million per year. This presentation will detail our experiences in implementing these screening initiatives, including key challenges and opportunities. This includes understanding the motivations and abilities of stakeholders, working with manufacturers to deliver screens on time and on budget, tackling site-specific requirements, and identifying future opportunities to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of incentive programs for modern fish-protection screening in Australia.