Summary: The long-term decline in the quality of sport fishing in the United States prompted the creation in 1950 of the Sport Fish Restoration Program, which seeks to restore, conserve, and enhance the nation's sport fishery resources. During fiscal years 1998-92, the program received nearly $1 billion in federal funding. In response to congressional concerns about the program's rapid expansion and about whether program money was being used for its intended purposes, this report determines (1) the extent to which the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) used these funds to run the program, (2) whether FWS' use of program funds for special investigations helped the agency to achieve the program's goals, (3) whether the states allocated the required amount of funds to freshwater and marine projects, and (4) the extent to which the states programmed funds to enhance fish habitat. GAO limited its review to five coastal states--California, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington--that historically have either received the largest apportionments of program funds or have underwritten a diverse range of sport fish projects.
