Aquatic Education and Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration

Although fisheries managers and fisheries-related businesses recognized the importance of angling ethics and education when the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act of 1950 passed, the act prevented states from using the funds for education, marketing or promotion. Subsequent changes in 1984, brought about by the Wallop-Breaux amendments authorized up to 10 percent of each state’s funds to be used for education. Since then, the discussion between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) administrators and state conservation agency staff have continued to evolve. The FWS originally interpreted education to mean changing behaviors and imparting knowledge about fishing and boating and did not include any aspect of marketing or outreach to recruit or retain participants. Then, as now, no aspect of regulation management can be directly funded by Federal Aid, including printing or distributing recreational fishing rules. Some relief came in 1998 when the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century and the Sportfishing and Boating Safety Act of 1998, which increased the cap to 15 percent and made “outreach and communications” eligible. Efforts to ensure wise use of these funds that can be evaluated to determine their long-term impacts on stewardship conservation remain vital.