Southern Division
of the
American Fisheries Society

The Future is Now: The National Fish Habitat Initiative and Regional Fish Habitat Partnerships

Fish and their habitats are important to people.  That is the central theme and guiding principle of a group of visionaries who, beginning in 2001, started what is now known as the National Fish Habitat Initiative (NFHI), which resulted in the 2006 National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP).  Modeled after the highly successful North American Waterfowl Management Plan, the NFHAP seeks to restore and protect healthy aquatic systems, increase the quality and quantity of fish sustained by our Nation’s waters, and increase the number of aquatic systems that support a broad natural diversity of fish and other aquatic species.  These goals are and will continue to be actively pursued through Regional Fish Habitat Partnerships that coordinate and focus conservation and mitigation efforts among jurisidictions and stakeholders.  Partnerships are at the heart of the NFHI and can be geographically based (e.g., Southeastern U.S.), species-specific (e.g., Eastern brook trout), or focused on specific habitats (e.g., Great Lakes).  The NFHI and regional partnerships such as the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) were designed to be long-term, “living “ partnerships that could secure adequate funding and focus efforts to increase on-the-ground restoration of aquatic resources. The backgrounds of NFHI and SARP members are as varied as the habitats they seek to protect: state and federal agencies, NGOs, tribes, the fishing industry, and private citizen groups are all represented.

Come learn all about these important initiatives and partnerships!  Our speakers will be Gary Whelan (Michigan DNR), who has served on the Core Working Group of the NFHI and is the co-chair of its Science and Data Committee, and Scott Robinson (Georgia DNR), who is the coordinator of SARP.  Both of these speakers are true-blue fisheries biologists who know the challenges facing us all when we try to tackle fish habitat projects, especially when those habitats cross state lines. They are both extremely well versed on NFHAP and SARP and they are looking forward to talking to Southern Division members about the future of fish habitat management and protection in the 21st Century.