What We Do
Our field stations provide technical assistance to tribes; conduct scientific studies into fishery problems; restore habitat through the National Fish Passage Program and the National Fish Habitat Action Plan; and collaborate with partners to conserve migratory fishes that cross multiple jurisdictions.
Management and Conservation
The conservation of native fish species and their habitat is a top priority for the AZFWCO. We are the Service's lead station for recovery of the threatened Apache trout and Little Colorado spinedace. We also work with loach minnow, Gila topminnow, desert pupfish, and "big river" fishes: Razorback Sucker, Humpback Chub, and Bonytail that inhabit the Colorado River. Our recovery efforts include renovating streams and other aquatic habitats inhabited by nonnative fish species that out-compete and often prey upon native fish. Additional efforts include constructing barriers to prevent upstream migration of nonnative species, translocating native fish populations into suitable habitat, restoring fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.
Learn more about fish passage to previously inaccessible habitat, and monitoring fish populations.