Federal grant programs / Department of the Interior

Sport Fish Restoration (15.605)

Also known as Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Program

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$1.9 billion
• Grant awards2,300
• Typical award$295,452
• Awarded in FY 2025$377 million
• Size rank170 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceFormula grants

Key findings

• Annual funding was roughly flat, $359 million in fiscal 2021 and $377 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 170th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 58% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 55 states and territories.

What the program funds

Sport Fish Restoration funds support activities designed to restore, conserve, manage, or enhance sport fish populations; the public use and benefits from these resources; and activities that provide boat access to public waters. Sport fisheries research and management activities; boating access development and maintenance; aquatic resource education activities; lake construction and maintenance; land acquisition; technical assistance; planning; habitat enhancement; administration; coordination; and hatchery construction are eligible under the Act.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

State governments, U.S. Territories, and Commonwealths and the four interstate Marine Commissions

What the money can and cannot pay for

The program funds projects to restore, conserve, manage, or enhance sport fish populations and the public use and benefits from these resources; to educate the public about aquatic resources; and to provide boating access to public waters. Eligible activities include land acquisition, boating access development, research, operations and maintenance of public fishing areas, hatchery and lake construction and maintenance, sport fish population management, fishing habitat improvements, coordination, and aquatic resource education. Yes. Ineligible activities include law enforcement, activities conducted for the primary purpose of producing income, and activities, projects, or programs that promote or encourage opposition to the regulated taking of fish, hunting, or the trapping of wildlife (see 50 CFR 80.54).;

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Eligible State agencies (including Puerto Rico) may be paid up to seventy five percent (75%) of project costs through the program. States are required to provide the remaining twenty-five percent (25%) of the project costs from a non-Federal source, which can include license fees. In accordance with an October 12, 2022 Policy Advisory Notice from the Department of the Interior (Reference No. 2023-001) and 48 U.S.C. 1469(a), Amendment of Subsection (d), the Service's Regional Directors shall waive cost sharing requirements described in this announcement in any grant to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Territories of American Samoa, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Matching and cost-share requirements are discussed in 50 CFR 80.84, 50 CFR 80.85, and 2 CFR 200.306.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines

Award range and average, in the agency's words

Range is $900,000 to $14,700,000; Average $5,200,000.

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: The program funds projects to restore, conserve, manage, or enhance sport fish populations and the public use and benefits from these resources; to educate the public about aquatic resources; and to provide boating access to public waters. Eligible activities include land acquisition, boating access development, research, operations and maintenance of public fishing areas, hatchery and lake construction and maintenance, sport fish population management, fishing habitat improvements, coordination, and aquatic resource education.Fiscal Year2026: The Program has not selected projects for funding. The Program anticipates funding projects to restore, conserve, manage, or enhance sport fish populations and the public use and benefits from these resources; to educate the public about aquatic resources; and to provide boating access to public waters.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to state and local governments.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.