A Partnership Agenda For Fisheries Conservation A Special Report by the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council

For more than 100 years, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and its predecessors have played a vital role in the conservation and management of this nation's fisheries and aquatic resources. The FWS Fisheries Program is uniquely positioned to reach across state and international boundaries to coordinate major fisheries management and conservation initiatives Unfortunately, a lack of clarity in its fisheries-related responsibilities, coupled with a shortage of funds and differing expectations from its diverse stakeholders, erode support for the Fisheries Program. The program must be strategically redefined to meet the fisheries conservation needs of a new century in a manner that can be supported by the Office of Management and Budget, Congress and other relevant stakeholders. To that end, the FWS asked the Sport Fishing Boating Partnership Council (SFBPC) to gather input from a broad array of stakeholders, including the states, tribes and other organizations. This report provides the consensus recommendations from that group. The report offers 22 recommendations that together provide a new sense of direction for the Fisheries Program. The recommendations ate organized around six major topic areas: Aquatic Species Conservation and Management, Public Use, Cooperation with Native American Tribal Nations, Leadership in Aquatic Science and Technology, Aquatic Habitat Conservation and Management, and National Aquatic Habitat Plan. These recommendations build on an earlier SFBPC report, "Saving a System in Peril: A Special Report on the National Fish Hatchery System." Only through the thoughtful implementation of these joint recommendations in partnership with the full community of stakeholders will the Fisheries Program return to its position of leadership. Such leadership is essential to the health of our nation's fisheries resources. The report also advances a major initiative to help resolve the major crisis facing fisheries in the United States - massive habitat loss and degradation. The initiative asks the FWS to assume a leadership role in convening a wide array of interests to begin the process of developing a National Aquatic Habitat Plan (NAHP). This could become the aquatic analog of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, a science-based, landscape-scale, partnership driven model for habitat conservation. The steering committee believes that if the recommendations presented in this report are implemented, the FWS Fisheries Program can again become a full and committed partner in conserving America's fisheries.