U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



The Mission of the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service 



The mission of the Fish and Wildlife Service is 

 to provide Federal leadership to conserve, pro- 

 tect, and enhance fish and wildlife and their habi- 

 tat for the benefit of all people. It is dedicated to 

 maintaining and improving the quality, abun- 

 dance, productivity, and utilization of the Na- 

 tion's fish and wildlife resources for the American 

 people. 



Since the Fish and Wildlife Service of the De- 

 partment of the Interior is mission-oriented, the 

 applied research projects associated with short- 

 term practical needs are normally funded before 

 longer term fundamental projects are considered. 

 No distinction is made between applied or basic 

 research other than its relationship to high priority 

 needs. The Service operates under the program 

 management system and its research activities tend 

 to be heavily management-oriented and, there- 

 fore, are considered to be applied research. 



Definition of Basic Research 



In an attempt to arrive at a standard definition of 

 basic research. Service research personnel were 

 asked to develop an acceptable definition. Two 

 general concepts emerged: 



• Basic research is research that cannot be 

 immediately applied. 



• Basic research is research conducted at the 

 discretion of the individual researcher in any 

 subject area be selects. 



A unanimously acceptable definition could not 

 be developed, but for the purpose of this report 

 the following definition was adopted: Basic re- 

 search is that research the major objective of 

 which is to increase knowledge without regard to 

 specific management application of the results. 

 Unfortunately, neither this definition nor any other 

 the Service could develop allows a clear or consist- 

 ent classification of its research efforts. 



Role of Basic Research 



The research effort of the Service in the past 10 

 years for both basic and applied has concentrated 

 on studies to: 



• Improve natural sport fish productivity 



• Increase efficacy of production of hatchery 

 fish 



• Determine the effects of environmental con- 

 taminants on fish and wildlife resources 



• Develop more effective methods of control- 

 ling damage caused by fish and wildlife popu- 

 lations 



• Understand the ecology and fish populations 

 of the Great Lakes to permit the best manage- 

 ment of their fish populations 



• Increase the stocks of certain anadromous 

 fish species and protect others from extinc- 

 tion 



• Increase our knowledge of threatened or en- 

 dangered fish and wildlife and prevent their 

 extinction 



• Increase our knowledge of migratory birds 

 and develop populations for the benefit of 

 man 



• Increase our knowledge of mammals and 

 nonmigratory birds 



• Evaluate the impact of man's activities on fish 

 and wildlife populations and their habitat, and 

 develop methods to reduce or mitigate their 

 losses. 



Examples of Basic Research 



Some examples of interesting basic research in 

 the wildlife area of research are studies on: 



• The karyotipic variation in rodents 



• The impact of sea otter predation upon inver- 

 tebrate populations and the secondary impact 

 of these prey species on the kelp beds 



• The liver enzymes of blackbirds 



• The environmental conditions that lead to the 

 production of toxins by the Type C botulism 

 organisms. 



Organization and Management of 

 Research Activities 



Research priorities are established by program 

 managers of the 17 programs of the Service. Each 

 manager establishes the priorities of his program 

 according to his needs and the goals of the Serv- 

 ice. The Service does not contract research work 

 to outside organizations unless it lacks the exper- 

 tise, facilities, or other resources to conduct the 

 work in-house. 



Current and Future Research 

 Emphasis 



The Service's priorities over the next 3 to 10 

 years will relate to the studies noted above under 

 "Role of Basic Research." Areas of research high- 

 lighted in the next few years are: 



INTERIOR 133 



