TVA's Asian Carp Mitigation Project

[Tennessee Boy]

Here's a link to a report and online presentation of TVA's plan for dealing with the Asian Carp problem in the Tennessee River system.  I found both the report and the presentation very informative and interesting.  Some will find it a little dry.  In summary,  they're looking to congress to fund several sound and light barriers at the locks to discourage the carp from moving through the locks.  Kentucky dam will also have a CO2 system.  They do not believe there's  much if any spawning happening in the Tennessee river.  They did find some young of the year asian carp in 2015 so spawning is possible.  Asian carp need strong current to keep their eggs suspended before they hatch.  The Tennessee river does not provide much of this habitat.  So the plan is to stop the flow of new fish entering the system and remove as many as possible of the fish that are already here.  It seems like a reasonable plan but it also sounds like it might take a while to implement.  There's a button on the page where you can submit comments until Aug 5th.  

 

https://www.tva.com/environment/environmental-stewardship/environmental-reviews/nepa-detail/asian-carp-mitigation

[TnRiver46]

I’d like to know exactly how much money they have made off Asian carp. Seems like they get about 10 million off every invasive species 

[Tennessee Boy]

29 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’d like to know exactly how much money they have made off Asian carp. Seems like they get about 10 million off every invasive species 

According to the presentation, congress appropriated $25 million to the Corps of Engineers but they have not received it yet.  The project they're proposing will cost some serious money.

 

I've heard from different sources that Asian Carp are not spawning in the Tennessee River so that means they all came through the Kentucky and Barkley locks.  I realize they're big locks and they open several times a day but it's still hard to believe that many fish have moved through them.

[TnRiver46]

36 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

According to the presentation, congress appropriated $25 million to the Corps of Engineers but they have not received it yet.  The project they're proposing will cost some serious money.

 

I've heard from different sources that Asian Carp are not spawning in the Tennessee River so that means they all came through the Kentucky and Barkley locks.  I realize they're big locks and they open several times a day but it's still hard to believe that many fish have moved through them.

I guess I underestimated…….. 

 

Interesting point about the current. The Ohio River has constant flow where the Tennessee and Cumberland are always stopping and starting down that way

[Tennessee Boy]

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I guess I underestimated…….. 

 

Interesting point about the current. The Ohio River has constant flow where the Tennessee and Cumberland are always stopping and starting down that way

I started digging into this very large report.  One of the appendix has the evaluations of each lake's spawning potential.  They have Kentucky lake rated as Very High but there is no evidence that they have spawned yet.  They guy said in the presentation that young asian carp were found in Kentucky lake in 2015.  The report says they found eggs in 2015 a short distance up in the Duck River.  I'm not sure what to think.  There's a lot of different habitat in the Tennessee River system.  Maybe they just haven't made it to the right location to spawn. 

 

TVA may end up spending $200 million on barriers that just keep the locally spawned fish from leaving.