By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–As a preliminary activity for today’s meeting of the State Asian Carp Advisory Commission meeting in Paris, a large group of commercial fishermen, state wildlife officials and dignitaries ran nets for Asian Carp Wednesday night.
Advisory Commission Member Monte Belew told RadioNWTN, “We had a really successful time. The fishermen caught between 3,000 and 3,5000 pounds of Asian Carp. The point of the trip was to show the commission members and others just how labor-intensive it is to catch the Asian Carp and also to show just how plentiful the Asian Carp are here.”
Before the fishing trip (held on Lake Barkley), commissioners toured the North American Caviar Co. in Paris.
Belew said multiple boats of observers to the process of netting Asian Carp participated in the event. Participants included TWRA Fisheries Director Frank Fiss, both the TWRA Director and Deputy Director, several department chiefs, TVA representatives, State Rep. Bruce Griffey of Paris and State Rep. Tandy Darby of Greenfield.
“It was a really successful trip,” Belew said. “It gave commissioners and others the opportunity to see how nets are run and to see the methods that commercial fishermen use to catch the Asian Carp.”
Belew said the state has increased the budget for the subsidy for commercial fishermen from $600,000 to $1.5M.
Photo: TWRA Deputy Director Chris Richardson and an employee of North American Caviar netting Asian Carp. Photo by Monte Belew.