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Canoeing. Kayaking. Standup paddleboarding. Fishing.
With all the wonderful things you can do in water, it鈥檚 no wonder people put so much time into water-related recreation.
According to our 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, nearly 40 million people over the age of 16 spent 785 million days fishing and took 463 million fishing trips. Nearly $100 billion of revenue was generated by fishing-related expenses during the year.
Given the significant time and money invested in angling, our commitment to providing Americans with clean, accessible waters for recreation is crucial.
Across the Northeast, our employees at national fish hatcheries and fish and wildlife conservation offices are doing exactly that.
Raising the catch
North Attleboro National Fish Hatchery in Massachusetts comprises 230 acres of undeveloped green space between Boston and Providence. Though hatcheries aren't in the spotlight as frequently as refuges, hatchery staff recently conducted an open house that attracted more than 600 visitors. A common quip from visitors was, 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 been here since I was a kid鈥� or 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even know this place was here!鈥� According to hatchery Project Leader Kevin Cheung, this means that there is an unmet need to communicate more about the work the hatchery does.
鈥淭he hatchery is like a hidden gem, but there鈥檚 more we can do to reach out to the community,鈥� said Cheung.
One way the hatchery engages in outreach is raising fish that are released for public and private recreational opportunities all over the region.
The hatchery specializes in raising rainbow trout and brook trout. Cops and bobbers events with Service law enforcement take place at ponds stocked with hatchery-raised trout for children to catch. Local groups like the Sportsmen鈥檚 Alliance and North Attleboro/Plainville Rotary Club depend on hatchery-raised trout for their fishing events. The hatchery works with a nonprofit organization called the Fishing Academy, which provides paid scholarships to bring inner-city Boston students to the hatchery for a tour and fishing lessons. It is outreach work like this that Cheung says inspires him to carry out the Service鈥檚 mission through his work at the hatchery.
鈥淎s a former inner-city kid myself, who grew up with a love of fishing, it鈥檚 important that the hatchery creates those opportunities for others,鈥� said Cheung. 鈥淚 have a two-year-old now, and I want to make sure he has the same opportunities to fish that I did growing up.鈥�
The hatchery even stocks its own ponds with trout. The 11-pond complex across the street from the hatchery used to operate from 9 to 5 but, seeing the need for people to connect to nature outside of working hours, Cheung changed access to 24/7. He heard from a frequent birder at the complex that they had seen someone in a wheelchair visiting for the first time, inspiring Cheung to continue pursuing opportunities to help people from all walks of life recreate at the hatchery.
The hatchery doesn鈥檛 just raise fish with stable populations. It also works to restore fish whose numbers have fallen from their historical levels.
Such is the case for American shad. A saltwater fish that returns to freshwater to spawn, shad used to be prevalent in the nearby Taunton River and throughout New England. The Taunton even sustained a commercial fishery that specialized in shad 鈥� but dams, pollution and development all but wiped them out.
The hatchery has been raising shad successfully and released more than five million larvae into the Taunton River in 2024. Recently, the hatchery had a big win: It discovered evidence of more than 40 adult shad returning to spawning habitat, a large increase from the handful of returning adults they found in previous years. Cheung hopes these developments are paving the way for American shad to sustain their own populations.
鈥淭he hatchery produces as much fish as we can, but Mother Nature can create a lot more,鈥� said Cheung. 鈥淭hose five million shad eggs could be produced by 100 fish naturally but we鈥檙e not there yet.鈥�
Removing dams opens opportunities
And our hatcheries aren鈥檛 the only ones creating better opportunities for recreation.
In 2023, the Service and Trout Unlimited collaborated with a host of project partners, including the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Patriot Hydro Partners and New York State Electric and Gas to remove the Indian Rapids and Fredenburgh Falls dams on the lower Saranac River in New York. The largest tributary on the New York side of Lake Champlain, the Saranac historically served as essential habitat for native landlocked Atlantic salmon.
With the two dams gone, only the first obstacle on the river 鈥� the Imperial Mills Dam 鈥� stands between Atlantic salmon and upstream spawning habitat that has been inaccessible since 1786, when the first dam was constructed across the lower Saranac. But there is a plan for getting fish past that dam too. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation plans to build a fish ladder on the Imperial Mills Dam within the next three-to-four years so that salmon can swim the Saranac once more.
When the dams were still present, canoers and kayakers had to use portages to get their canoes past them. Without these obstructions, paddlers can experience more continuous rides and avoid the burden of carrying the canoe from one point to another. This allows people who have the strength to paddle but not to carry a canoe long distances the ability to enjoy the sport.
The absence of the Indian Rapids Dam also allows more public access to the Indian Rapids trail site, along the river where the dam used to be. Without the flood risk caused by the dam, more people can use the trail safely and less restoration is required after storm events.
We also helped with a riverbank restoration along the lower Saranac. The bank along this section of river was eroding and threatened to flood out a walkable trail on the edge of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh property. The restoration prevented that, while ensuring recreational opportunities on land and in the water.
David Minkoff, fish biologist at our Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, makes one more distinction about the impact of the dams鈥� removal on recreation.
鈥淲hen the Indian Rapids Dam was present, the impounded water upstream of the dam would pool up and make it more of a 鈥淟azy River,鈥� ending with an extremely dangerous drop and funneling of the entire river through a narrow breach in the dam,鈥� Minkoff said. 鈥淭hanks to the dam鈥檚 removal, the so-called 鈥滻ndian Rapids鈥� have reappeared, and the boating hazard is gone, creating a navigable route for paddling, canoeing and kayaking that will be attractive to many recreators.鈥�
Conservation ensures recreation
With the abundance of benefits created by hatchery-raised fish stocked in ponds at outreach events, increased public access to rivers opened up by dam removals, and trips to hatcheries inspiring future conservationists, it鈥檚 clear the world of water-based recreation would be a lot murkier without the hard work of Service employees.
