National Fishing Week is celebrated each year throughout the country to encourage participation in the sport of fishing, and to promote fishing conservation. Anglers can sample the fine sport fishing on close to 150 National Wildlife Refuges or visit the 72 National Fish Hatcheries and dozen Fishery Research Labs nationwide. Enjoy special opportunities being provided on National Wildlife Refuges such as free fishing and electroshocking demonstrations, or fishing clinics on National Fish Hatcheries. The national wildlife refuges provide some of Americas best fishing excitement in natures finest settings.
Activities such as casting contests, fish fries and angling demonstrations are taking place all over the country in honor of National Fishing Week. For information on special events in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, contact your local Fish and Wildlife Service Office, or the Regional Office, (612) 725-3519.
Through National Fishing Week, we can increase public awareness of the family oriented joys of recreational fishing. There are no limits to who can share in the simple pleasures of fishing, from feeling a bluegill nibble a bait to reeling in a feisty bass.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
