Dear Chairman Bell, et al.,
I’m sending this email on behalf of Timothy Joseph, Chairman of the Watts Bar Ecology and Fishery Council (WBEFC).
Thank you,
Janice Moody
Secretary of WBEFC
Date: February 9, 2023
To: Mr. Mike Bell, Chairman, Tennessee Asian Carp Advisory Commission
From: Dr. Timothy Joseph, Fisheries Biologist, Chairman—WBEFC
cc: Governor Lee
Angie Box, TFWC Chairman
Jason Maxedon, TWRA Executive Director
Subject: February 2, 2023, Tennessee Asian Carp Advisory Commission Meeting
Dear Chairman Bell:
As you are well aware, for more than three years I have provided the USFWS and MICRA published silver carp guidance to your commission, TWRA, and TFWC. As well, I have provided the advice of two of our nation’s leading silver carp experts. The guidance is clear: the “First” action that must be done is “Prevent” silver carp from entering new lakes. I have asked time and time again to explain and show me the science behind why the commission, TWRA, and TFWC are not following the guidance.
I watched the February 2nd Commission meeting. Only carp infested lakes were addressed. Not once did you or anyone else even mention preventing them from reaching silver carp free lakes. You, however, talked about the possibility of placing a barrier at Nickajack Lock because your former constituents are worried. That is the closest the commission has come to hint of the need to stop the carp. Well, the constituents of the only uninvaded lakes left in the TN River Basin are indeed worried, yet your commission refuses to even address protecting our lakes from the silver carp by STOPPING them. I have asked so many times why the USFWS and MICRA guidance isn’t being followed that TWRA/TFWC told me they have better things to do than answer my questions. My questions are fair and simple, but only telling me over and over what TWRA is doing is not an answer. Sidestepping simple questions is clearly unprofessional.
Please directly answer two simple questions for the 700+ WBEFC stakeholders (many were ‘your’ constituents).
- Why is your commission, TWRA, and TFWC not following the USFWS and MICRA silver carp guidance? (If the guidance is wrong, please provide the supporting science.)
- Why has your commission, TWRA, and TFWC failed to address or answer what is more critical: Placing the first barriers “in front” of the silver carp to prevent them from reaching uninvaded lakes (which follows USFWS and MICRA guidance), or behind the carp to lower the number of silver carp swimming into lakes that already have silver carp populations and allowing them to continue upstream into our unoccupied lakes.
Certainty you realize if barriers are not placed in front of the silver carp, they will indeed reach the four uninvaded lakes in the Upper TN river basin. Do the residents of the carp infested lakes believe that we too should have silver carp destroy our lakes? I personally doubt it for I am certain they “care.” Why not ask them? It is completely illogical to support a PLAN that allows uninfected lakes to become infected with a permanent disease. You isolate a disease; you don’t allow it to spread. USFWS and MICRA are clear on this. Your commission, TWRA, and TWFC have a responsibility to “Protect” our silver carp free lakes. The fact is the only way you can do that is to follow the USFWS and MICRA guidance and the advice of our nation’s most respected experts and place the first barriers “IN FRONT” of the silver carp at Watts Bar Lock. Why do you not understand and support this?
Here are two simple silver carp facts. The silver carp have taken over nearly the entire central U.S. because they reproduce. Just because TWRA has not YET seen evidence of reproduction since 2016, is meaningless. You cannot build a plan based on: (1) the “hope” that thousands of carp in the Tennessee River won’t reproduce when they did in 2016; and (2) they won’t swim upstream even though they are free to do so. Having fifty years of fisheries experience, I can provide you a number of biological reasons why they may not yet have reproduced, as well as reasons why TWRA sampling didn’t find evidence of reproduction. Just know, they WILL reproduce and may already have, and they will continue swimming upstream into our lakes. Those are simply biological truths.
Please directly answer the two questions as soon as possible so I may share your answers with the WBEFC stakeholders. They have been more than patient and are frankly dismayed by the sidestepping and stonewalling these and my other direct questions have received to-date. They deserve to hear the answers because of the substantial impact to their lives and livelihoods when the silver carp take over our silver carp free lakes. Barriers in front of the silver carp can prevent this. Surely you can understand saving our lakes from silver carp devastation is far more important than reducing the number of silver carp entering silver carp infested lakes, for doing so cannot possibly save our lakes.
By only mitigating the impact to silver carp lakes, you, TWRA, and TWFC will allow the silver carp to devastate the Upper TN River Basin lakes. If you can’t mitigate and protect at the same time, protecting our lakes must come before mitigation. That is easy to understand and is what the USFWS and MICRA guidance says. MICRA states clearly that preventing silver carp from entering new lakes is far more critical than trying to manage them in place. Once again, I have provided below the USFWS and MICRA guidance, and the advice from our nation’s foremost silver carp experts. Please explain why the commission, TWRA, and TWFC disregards all of this.
Professional Regards,
Dr. Timothy Joseph