The United States Fish and Wildlife Service Fisheries program has been in existence for 133 years. Their goal is to maintain the populations of all species of fish while also providing ample opportunities for the fishermen of the United States. The Fisheries program consists of two different programs, the Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance Program and the National Fish Hatchery System. The Fisheries program looks at species of it that are in danger of extinction and works to rebuild their population, as well as to provide education to the public about those particular species of it.

There are many responsibilities assigned directly to the Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance program of the Fish and Wildlife Service. The management assistance part of the name refers to their planning and management services, with regard to animal populations. While not directly involved, they participate in the planning end of restoring endangered fish populations. They monitor the numbers of it in the hatcheries and how long they have been there, and they monitor, regulate and prevent the invasion of predator species. When repopulating does occur, the program monitors the repopulation to see how effective it is. Public education regarding conservation is their final responsibility.

The National Fish Hatchery program has multi-functional responsibilities. They use hatcheries to breed fish that have no genetic defects and then place them into the wild to repopulate in areas that are depleted. The hatchery workers do research to identify and try to prevent disease that may be affecting it and aquatic wildlife. In addition to all of this, they also provide refuge habitats to it that have become an endangered species, as an attempt to allow them time to breed for the purpose of repopulating.

The Fish and Wildlife Service Fish Hatchery program ensures the survival of game fish by monitoring and maintaining their populations. They do this by forcing compliance with limits imposes by both the state and federal governments. The purpose in doing this is to ensure that game fish such as the largemouth bass and the smallmouth bass do not get into a state that could border on endangerment. Fishing is not only a great source of both food and fun, but it is also a major part of the economy in areas where there are large bodies of water or large rivers. Any upset in the population of a local game fish, could have very negative repercussions on the local economy.

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