Outdoor News Bulletin
AFWA Endorses Best Management Practices for Lead Tackle and Ammo
The effects of lead ammunition and tackle on wildlife are complex. Hunting ammunition and fishing tackle containing lead are widely available, effective, and commonly used. However, their unintentional impacts can have harmful health effects for some wildlife species. Fortunately, alternatives are available for hunters and anglers who want to voluntarily reduce those risks.
The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) recently endorsed a best management approach centered on science, highlighting both avoidance and mitigation efforts that reduce the unintended effects to wildlife from ingestion of lead. The goal of this approach is to promote voluntary best management practices (BMPs) to hunters and anglers along with providing the information and resources needed for implementation by state and federal agencies as well as NGO and industry partners.
In 2021, the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ (MAFWA) Directors, representing thirteen states and three provinces, became a supporting partner of the North American Non-Lead Partnership (The Partnership), and charged their Fish and Wildlife Health Committee and R3 and Relevancy Technical Working Group to address the needs, challenges, and opportunities associated with reducing the ingestion of lead from spent tackle and ammunition. The two committees formed a working group including state, federal, industry, and non-profit partners to address the charge. Meeting in person and virtually, the working group decided on a collaborative direction emphasizing education, information, and choice for anglers, hunters, and the public that supports making voluntary, informed decisions on ammunition and tackle suited for specific areas and needs as the most appropriate and effective approach. This collaborative approach involved a working group made up of many partners including the Wildlife Management Institute, National Shooting Sports Foundation, industry representatives, the International Hunter Education Association, the North American Non-Lead Partnership, and ammunition and tackle manufacturers.
The MAFWA directors endorsed the Ammunition and Tackle BMPs at their summer 2024 meeting and the working group then moved to have the BMPs endorsed at the AFWA business meeting in September 2025. The Fish and Wildlife Health Committee with support of the Hunting and Shooting Sports Participation Committee, the One Health Committee, and the Boating and Angling Participation Committee introduced a resolution, endorsed by the AFWA directors, to formally accept the MAFWA BMPs.
Information sharing and effective communication are conservation approaches that have long been embraced by hunters, anglers, industry, and governments in their commitment to natural resources. The conservation benefits of widely promoted voluntary BMPs cannot be overstated. Incorporating these BMPs has the potential to limit risks to wildlife while also reducing the need for regulatory action. The BMPs are currently available here and the work group is developing messaging strategies to share BMPs with federal, state, and local governments, industry, industry associations, partners, hunting and angling groups, and individual hunters and anglers.
