Native Fish Conservation Area Policy

The Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) notes that throughout North America, native fish

populations have declined from historical levels due to the cumulative detrimental effects of

overharvest, water management, land use practices (agriculture, forestry, mining, etc.), habitat

alteration or degradation, past fisheries management practices, and the widespread introduction

of non-native fish and other invasive species. Today, the goal of many fisheries management

agencies and programs is to preserve or restore native fish species to some portion of their

historical native range. These goals have been driven in part by the legal mandates of the

Endangered Species Act (ESA) and by the increased value that anglers, fisheries managers,

conservation organizations, and other concerned citizens recently have placed on native fishes

in native habitats.

The FFF Native Fish Conservation Area Policy, described herein, complements FFF’s existing

Native Fish Policy and calls for establishment of a national system of fish conservation areas

that would protect core populations of native fish species and the watersheds and aquatic

Policy) sets forth clear principles to enable FFF members, clubs, and councils to speak with a

consistent voice regarding the identification of potential fish refuges and to work constructively

with fisheries and resource agencies toward the designation of NFCAs for specific fish species

diversity across fish species, protect natural resource agencies from unnecessary and frivolous

ESA petitions, and ensure sustainable public access to the protected species and watersheds in

perpetuity.

Policy Elements

FFF defines a native fish conservation area as an aquatic system at the watershed or subwatershed

managed for the protection and long-term conservation of the native fish species, while

reproducing wild fish. We also use the terms non-indigenous and exotic as synonymous with nonnative.

and sanctuary.

allowing or encouraging an array of human uses that are consistent with the conservation

goals of the refuge.

Native fish conservation areas should occur where clusters of genetically intact native fish

populations or assemblages of native fish species and high quality habitat coexist.

A system of native fish conservation areas would provide multiple benefits, including

a. providing clean water and clean air at the level of the watershed and airshed,

b. protecting and conserving native fish communities and thereby reducing the need to

list species under the Endangered Species Act, and

c. providing a conservation legacy for future generations equivalent to National Park

and National Wildlife Refuge systems.

The Federation of Fly Fishers recognizes the intrinsic value and biodiversity found in native

fish species and the aquatic communities upon which they depend. The Federation also

recognizes that human growth and development of natural resources are likely to continue,

the climate will change in many areas, and these factors will place increasing pressure on

native fish species and their aquatic habitats. Therefore, FFF supports the establishment of

a national system of conservation areas that is designed to protect and conserve important

native fish species and the aquatic systems in which they exist.

The Federation of Fly Fishers supports a management approach for the proposed native

fish conservation areas that relies on habitat protection and restoration, control of non-native

aquatic and riparian species, and the reintroduction of native species into habitats where

they have been extirpated. This approach is consistent with the FFF Native Fish Policy and

could result in a limited and case-specific role for artificial production in the restoration of

native fish species.

Two critical biological objectives must be achieved for a fish conservation area to meet the

goal of sustainability of the intended native fish species and its aquatic ecosystem.

a. Watershed scale processes that create and maintain habitat complexity, diversity,

and connectivity must be restored and protected. This may also involve restoring a

more complete suite of natural disturbance processes, even though these may

appear to have short-term risks.

b. The purpose of watershed scale restoration would be to restore the mosaic of natural

habitats necessary for the target species to complete its life cycle, including the

potential for expression of multiple life history patterns (e.g., anadromous, adfluvial,

fluvial, and resident life history patterns for some species).

A third critical objective – social and institutional in nature, rather than biological – also must

be achieved for a fish conservation area to become sustainable. A native fish conservation

area must be established by an appropriate process that provides adequate institutional

structure, stakeholder commitment, biologically-sound policies, opportunities for

stakeholders to participate in monitoring activities, legal framework, stable long-term

funding, and documentation that provides guidance for long-term management, monitoring,

and periodic program review.

The International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies recently developed a model

intended to provide a framework for engaging stakeholders in a collaborative process for

developing management agreements to address conservation needs of species and their

flexibility and benefits to stakeholders and minimize the need for listing and regulation under

the ESA. This model could have valuable application for developing the institutional

structure for establishing native fish conservation areas.

Using a system of fish conservation areas as a conservation tool to protect important life

history and genetic diversity in native fishes demands that the identification and selection of

the conservation areas themselves occur within a larger context of information on native fish

species’ status and distributions, including measures of life history and genetic diversity.

Ideally, the fish species and populations protected in a native fish conservation area should

represent an important subset of the biological diversity and evolutionary legacy of the

species’ overall diversity.

The process of identifying and designating native fish conservation areas should be a

collaborative one involving FFF Clubs and Councils, working with state, federal, and tribal

natural resource agencies, as well as other stakeholders and conservation organizations.

The identification of potential native fish conservation areas and the subsequent designation

of specific watersheds as native fish conservation areas will most likely occur on a case-bycase

basis.

The FFF vision is to establish a series of native fish conservation areas across the US, and

eventually all of North America, that would systematically protect native fish biodiversity and

associated habitats. That vision might best be served if FFF’s initial efforts focused on

identifying native fish conservation areas for species and watersheds where existing land

use and management practices already provide some measure of protection. One example

of such a conservation area exists on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in

southeastern Oregon, where the Redband Trout Refuge on the Donner und Blitzen River

protects an area surrounding 16 miles of the river where all management decisions are

reviewed with respect to their effect on redband trout.

Conservation. International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

federal and Tribal lands in the western and north-central US and in the large private forests

and watersheds in the eastern and north-central US. Where ecological attributes are

the existing protective land use and fisheries management policies. Examples include

Idaho’s Lochsa, Selway, Clearwater, and Middle Fork of the Salmon Rivers (steelhead and

westslope cutthroat trout), Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks (Yellowstone and

westslope cutthroat trout, respectively), and various watersheds in the desert Southwest

where the Rio Grande cutthroat trout and the Apache and Gila trout exist. Opportunities for

native fish refuges also occur for brook trout in the spring pond systems in northern

Wisconsin, in New Hampshire’s Nash Stream Forest, and in small watersheds in Great

Smoky National Park for southern Appalachian brook trout. Conservation area opportunities

for warmwater species include the Black bass in Florida’s Suwannee River system and the

Guadalupe bass in west Texas.

FFF believes that a logical and feasible first step toward creating a national fish

conservation area system may be to focus initially on these and other opportunities where

existing management policies already provide a measure of the protection for specific native

fish species and their aquatic habitats envisioned in the proposed fish refuge system.

A central part of the FFF vision for native fish conservation areas is that multiple use

activities can be compatible with aquatic conservation goals within the proposed area;

however, the primary goal of management should be to restore and maintain ecological

processes necessary to maintain the integrity and diversity of aquatic habitats. Within this

concept, other uses may be compatible and such practices should be allowed and

encouraged.

The FFF envisions a wide range of recreational activities occurring within the proposed fish

conservation area such as hiking, camping, boating, fishing, and bird-watching. Some

commercial activities may be compatible with sustained persistence of the fish population

and its required ecological needs; however other activities may not be.

Consequently, all proposed activities and management decisions for the conservation areas

would need to be reviewed with respect to their effect on the native fish species and the

aquatic system targeted for conservation. The primary purpose for the fish conservation

areas is to protect and conserve the native fish population(s) and its habitats; therefore,

decisions regarding compatible uses within the area or watershed must be made with

respect to their effects on the fish species. Ongoing and proposed activities may need to be

modified or even discontinued depending upon their effect (or potential effect) on the fish

species and the watershed.

The Federation of Fly Fishers recognizes that sustained management of many native fish

species within the proposed conservation areas will require special fishing regulations that

may include the use of barbless hooks, catch-and-release angling or slot limits / trophy

regulations in order to avoid mortality rates that will adversely affect population structure and

spawning escapement numbers. For this reason, FFF supports catch-and release angling

for native species as an important component of sustainable management within the

FFF recommends partnering with diverse stakeholders such as the the Fisheries

Conservation Foundation, Trout Unlimited, the Western Native Trout Initiative, National Fish

Habitat Action Plan, state agencies and private land owners to establish native fish

conservation areas. Further, FFF supports the creation of native fish conservation areas in

specific locations that may provide additional state agencies with a model to implement new

NFCAs. FFF recognizes in areas with limited public land ownership but ideal native fish

populations or intact watershed potential, facilitating or guiding private land owners to

develop NFCA would be beneficial to native fish populations.

The Federation of Fly Fishers can provide critical leadership, first by supporting a policy

statement similar to FFF Native Fish Policy that supports the concept of Native Fish

Conservation Areas and describes the critical elements of a fish conservation area, and then

by working with key partners to help develop a system of fish conservation areas.

through proper playing, handling, and releasing of hooked fish. Anglers should use heavy enough

tackle that the fish can be landed as quickly as possible. Handle the fish as little as possible, keeping

it in the water; wet hands or net before landing the fish. Use long-nosed pliers or hemostat to back

the hook out of the entrance hole. The use of barbless or circle hooks makes it easier to quickly

unhook a fish. Hold the fish gently moving it back and forth until it revives and swims from your

hands.