PHOENIX – Did you know that the feisty rainbow trout dancing on the end of your fishing line was most likely hatchery raised?

Each year, the Arizona Game and Fish Department stocks more than 3 million fish for anglers to catch in approximately 160 of Arizona’s lakes, rivers and streams – mostly rainbow, Apache, brook, and cutthroat trout,
but some warmwater species such as largemouth bass and channel catfish as well.

The stocking program is supported with federal funds through the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program, along with state funds from the sale of licenses and trout stamps.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department are conducting an evaluation of the Department's sport-fish stockings in the state as part of a draft environmental assessment process that is required to continue using federal funding for stocking activities in Arizona.

Information on how to submit comments is listed after the downloads section below.

NOTE: The below files are PDF's and require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader

• Overview of NEPA Scoping on Arizona Sport Fish Stocking Program
  
  
• Statewide Map of Sportfish Stocking Actions
  
  
• Proposed Stocking Locations: Statewide Lakes, Ponds, Streams and Rivers
  
  
• List of Fish Stocked
  
  
• Bill Williams Watershed
  
• Upper Colorado River Watershed
• Upper Gila/San Pedro River Watershed
• Little Colorado River Watershed
• Verde River Watershed
• Lower Colorado River Watershed
• Lower Gila River Watershed
• Salt/San Francisco River Watershed
• Santa Cruz River Watershed
  
  

Facts about angling and sport fish stockings in Arizona

Recreational angling in Arizona totaled 4,156,000 angling days in 2006, creating a statewide economic impact of more than $1.1 billion annually.

Arizona’s natural fish fauna historically consisted of 36 species of fish, only a few of which were traditionally sought by early Americans for sport fishing, which is a trend that continues today.

Since the early 1900s, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and other agencies have supplemented recreational angling opportunities by stocking state waters with sport fish species.

Fish stockings have evolved over the past 100 years or so to meet growing needs of anglers in Arizona. The department now considers a wide range of factors when determining where and when to stock fish, including biology, angler use, partnership commitments and needs, native fish impacts and social demands.”

The federal funding apportioned to Arizona is authorized under the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act of 1950, commonly referred to as the Dingell-Johnson Act and Wallop-Breaux Act. It provides federal aid to state wildlife agencies for management and restoration of sport fish.

These Sport Fish Restoration funds are derived from a federal excise tax at the manufacturing level on certain items of sport-fishing tackle, fishing equipment and motor boat fuel.