Fish and Wildlife Conservation Offices

Fish and Wildlife Conservation Offices are a network of field stations located throughout the nation that work to conserve fish and aquatic resources.

Fish and Wildlife Conservation Offices work on aquatic species and habitat conservation projects across the country.  Staff biologists provide technical assistance to tribes and collaborate on fishery restoration efforts. They also conduct scientific studies into fishery problems, restore habitat, and coordinate conservation efforts with partners to conserve migratory fish that cross multiple jurisdictions. Habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation are some of the primary factors in the decline of native species, while threats from pollution and climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change are worsening water and habitat quality. To combat these threats, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Offices work with Tribes, states, and other partners to identify conservation goals restore aquatic habitat. 

Explore our Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office Webinar Series. 

Find a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office Near You.

Improving Fisheries Conservation

Working with its biologists from across the U.S., the Service’s Fish and Aquatic Conservation program is reviewing the effectiveness, needs and opportunities of their fish conservation efforts.

These reviews identify areas for improvements in fish conservation efforts using existing resources and identify gaps that need to be addressed to restore fish populations to healthy conditions. This gap between a species’ current state and the desired conservation goal is the reason that these reviews are often referred to as gap analyses.

Fish and Aquatic Conservation is using these reviews to find new opportunities for collaboration, build better blueprints for conservation success, and look for innovative solutions for conserving America’s fisheries.