For more than 140 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has partnered with state fisheries agencies and Native American tribes in providing recreational fishing opportunities for the American public. The cornerstone of the FWS’s recreational fishing program has been the network of hatcheries under the National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS). The facilities within the NFHS produce more than 140 million fish and 120 million eggs annually, worth approximately $5 billion. For every American tax dollar spent on NFHS, there is $28 return on investment.
However, recently the FWS has placed more emphasis on threatened and endangered species and less on providing and enhancing recreational fishing opportunities for Americans. On March 17, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies held a hearing on the President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget for the Service.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), the American Sportfishing Association, and the Bass Angler Sportsmen’s Society submitted a letter to Chairman Ken Calvert, emphasizing the importance of the Service’s fisheries program and the NFHS in providing recreational fishing opportunities, as well as the concern with the shift in agency direction and the need for organic legislation to help guide the agency’s priorities in the future.
CSF and our partners will continue to work to ensure that providing recreational fishing opportunities remains an important component of the FWS’s mission.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
