Threatened and Endangered Fish

As aquatic habitats are subject to ever increasing number of threats, the number of threatened and endangered native fish species continues to rise. In many cases, the prospects for full recovery are low because the threats are difficult to address or they're outside the sole jurisdiction of the NPS. However, because of national parks' mandate to conserve and protect all species from unacceptable impacts, they sometimes provide opportunities for recovery not easily available in other areas.

Parks are legally required to protect, conserve, and recover federally threatened and endangered native fish species (ESA, 1973) and the habitats on which they depend. NPS policy also mandates that parks manage state and locally listed fish species, and other species that are of special management concern, in a similar manner, to the greatest extent possible. Such species and their habitats may include but are not limited to federally threatened, endangered, and candidate species; state threatened, endangered, sensitive, and rare species; species on the Interagency Special Status/Sensitive Species List (ISSSSL); IUCN Red List of threatened species; and fish stocks determined by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) / National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) or States to be rare, “overfished” or “depleted,” or managed under a stock rebuilding plan by one of the 8 US Regional Fisheries Management Councils established under the authority of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (1976).

For a list of the at-risk fish in your park, search the information on NPSpecies.