United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-06-14 monographic deposited born digital 28 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-151 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-151 P0b002ee18037acff f:rc00151 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-151 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-151 RCED-00-151 Statutory law Fishes Wildlife conservation Endangered species National Fish Hatchery System Letter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) national fish hatcheries, focusing on whether: (1) the activities carried out at the national fish hatcheries are consistent with their statutory authorizations; and (2) changes in existing laws would be appropriate to provide better direction to FWS on which programs to emphasize and to authorize FWS to make changes in how it manages the hatcheries.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) the laws governing national fish hatcheries authorize and direct hatcheries to engage in a wide variety of activities; (2) these activities include: (a) establishing and implementing programs for the protection and conservation of fish, some of which are threatened or endangered; (b) mitigating the impacts of constructing federal dams and other federal water projects; (c) supporting recreational fishing; and (d) supporting fishery resources on FWS or tribal lands; (3) FWS believes that its most important mandate is to recover and restore native aquatic species and ecosystems that are either threatened or endangered; (4) congressional direction on which programs that Congress wants the hatcheries to emphasize would allow FWS to better align hatchery operations with the activities that Congress believes should be FWS' highest priorities; (5) because the laws affecting hatchery operations were enacted over a long period of time and covered a broad range of issues, FWS has been charged with meeting a variety of goals that sometimes conflict or for which the hatcheries are not well located to carry out; (6) FWS finds itself struggling to address the many mandates incrementally added over the years while, at the same time, trying to maintain modern and efficient hatcheries in locations specified by law; (7) furthermore, FWS finds itself operating hatcheries in locations and spending resources to produce types of fish and operate programs that it might not have conducted but for current laws; (8) although FWS' funding has increased by 34 percent in constant dollars since fiscal year 1992, the funding allocated to the hatcheries has declined by about 15 percent in constant dollars in the same period; (9) at the same time, the hatcheries have tried to maintain activities in all program areas but in so doing, have fallen short of production goals or have made compromises affecting fish quality; (10) to obtain additional funding, FWS has sought to obtain reimbursements from the beneficiaries of federal dams and other federal water projects and has succeeded in some cases; and (11) however, FWS is prohibited from obtaining reimbursement or lacks clear authority to do so. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-151/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-151.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-151/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-151.pdf GAO/RCED-00-151 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-151 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-151; National Fish Hatcheries: Authority Needed to Better Align; Statutory law Fishes Wildlife conservation Endangered species National Fish Hatchery System