Legislation ensures that world-class tailwater fisheries will remain open
(May 23, 2013) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cannot legally restrict fishing below dams in Tennessee, according to a two-year ban that passed Congress yesterday.
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander has led the effort to persuade the Corps to be reasonable on this issue, but it finally took passage of his bill in the Senate and the House to ensure that the areas below Corps dams would not be closed off to fishing boats.
“When the president signs this legislation, this will end the discussion,” Alexander said yesterday. “Both chambers of the United States Congress have now told the Corps to immediately abandon its unreasonable efforts to restrict fishing and work with state agencies on a sensible policy to address safety concerns, instead of wasting taxpayer dollars and ignoring elected officials who are standing up for fishermen.”
Thanks largely to your support and vocal outreach, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation was able to help convince our elected officials that the Corps’ plan was a bad one. Beyond the threat to the freedom of all Tennesseans to fish in public waters, there were hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars attached to these wonderful tailwater fisheries at risk.
Without you, we would not have been successful.
Please be sure to thank Sens. Alexander and Corker and the rest of the Tennessee delegation for their leadership and support. Also, read the fascinating interview with Sen. Alexander in our new issue of Tennessee Out-Of-Doors magazine.
Sincerely,
The Tennessee Wildlife Federation
