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Outreach and Education
Public Awareness Campaigns
A key to addressing the problems caused by aquatic nuisance species (ANS) is increasing public awareness of ANS, their impacts, and what individuals can do to prevent their introduction and spread. However, reaching each person whose activities may affect our natural environment is a daunting task. Collaboration, cooperation and coordination across federal and state agencies, local governments, tribal entities, and the public and private sectors is required and facilitating this effort is a primary goal of the Service's ANS Program. To accomplish this, our Regional ANS Coordinators have:
- developed informational websites;
- conducted workshops; and,
- created outreach materials for National distribution, including:
- traveling displays,
- exhibits,
- pamphlets,
- ANS identification cards,
- fact sheets, some in several languages, and
- videos.
Two National public outreach initiatives were created by the ANS Task Force, in cooperation with partner organizations and the Service: the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! campaign and Habitattitude™. If the spread of ANS is prevented by an informed, engaged public, then efforts to control or eradicate ANS will save us all time and money.
Fact Sheets:
The Fisheries Strategic Plan (900 KB pdf file) was developed with help from Fisheries Program partners and stakeholders. The plan sets forth specific performance measures that will be used to evaluate how well the Program accomplishes its mission. The measures are both short- and long-term.
Addressing aquatic nuisance species plays an important role in the strategic plan. The overarching ANS goal is that "Risks of aquatic nuisance species invasions are substantially reduced, and their economic, ecological, and human health impacts are minimized.” This goal is addressed through a series of performance and workload measures.
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