Fish and Wildlife Service: Fisheries and Habitat Conservation

Partnerships get it done for Fisheries Conservation

By Gary Frazer
(Editorial from Eddies)

The greatest conservation successes weren’t the result of singular Herculean heavy-lifting, but rather of partnerships – federal and state fish and wildlife agencies, Indian tribes, anglers, conservation groups, the business community – all working in a common cause of conservation. History is laden with examples.

The essential nature of fisheries conservation is one of partnership. Partnerships are relationships among parties having shared rights and responsibilities. Fisheries conservation inherently involves shared rights and responsibilities, and you will read about that throughout this winter issue of Eddies.

A great deal of modern fisheries conservation is funded by the landmark partnership among the boating and fishing industry, the state fish and game agencies, and the federal government, that produced the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. Anglers and the money they spend on their sport of choice drive the cycle of success that is the Sport Fish Restoration program. Joyce Johnson writes about this inheritance left to anglers in these pages.

Mike Stempel deliberates in his story “No Trout Left Behind” about a cutthroat trout he cares about. Stempel ponders how a recent landscape-scale partnership, the Western Native Trout Initiative, means hope for native coldwater denizens from Alaska to New Mexico, especially ‘his’ Colorado River cutthroat trout.

Fish populations often reach beyond the boundaries of any individual agency’s purview, so effective management requires partnerships among management agencies. Similarly, activities in uplands far removed from any pool-riffle-run complex influence stream fish habitats, so partnerships with landowners, regulators, and construction agencies accomplish longterm conservation. That notion is articulated in the story “Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership” by Scott Robinson and Marilyn O’Leary. They discuss coordinated fisheries conservation over a 14-state area.

“Many hands make light work,” wrote English scribe John Heywood in 1546. Light work comes from good partnerships. During my time in Missouri, we created what I considered a genuinely good partnership with the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and landowners. We shared a commitment to restoring high-quality Ozark streams and healthy populations of fish found only in the Ozarks, like the federally listed Niangua darter. We demonstrated a willingness to accommodate each other’s interests and we achieved what we each could call success.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognizes that partnerships are essential to fisheries conservation, and we have purposefully institutionalized partnering in the agency. Witness our support for the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, the National Fish Passage Program (see Eddies, summer 2008), and our Partners for Fish and Wildlife and Coastal programs. Read in this issue about the remarkable work of our Aquatic Animal Drug Approval Partnership in “Pharmaceuticals for Fish.” The back cover shows the breadth of partnerships in using new drugs for fish.

Heywood’s proverb may be centuries behind us, but it is still spot-on. We are most effective when our conservation mission is delivered by people with both passion for fish and their habitats, and an ability to parlay that passion by partnering with others.

Our mission statement says it clearly, “. . . working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.”

Gary Frazer biography

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Last updated: March 19, 2009