Washington, DC -(Ammoland.com)- Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Member Senator Lamar Alexander (TN) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) recently announced a permanent funding solution for three regional trout hatcheries in Tennessee and Georgia.
Previously only fully funded through 2016, Tennessee’s Erwin National Fish Hatchery and Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery, as well as Chattahoochee Forest National Fish Hatchery in Georgia will now permanently remain open at current funding levels. The TVA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and Tennessee and Georgia state fish and wildlife agencies agreed to collaboratively fund the hatcheries.
Specifically, the TVA will provide funding for more than one million trout in the hatcheries, the FWS will fund the hatchery infrastructure, and the state fish and wildlife agencies will be responsible for funding the transportation and care for the trout. This funding agreement is essential to local and state economies as well as anglers across the country who rely on these mitigation hatcheries to stock trout in the cold tailwaters of dams. More than 256,000 anglers are estimated to fish for trout in Tennessee and Georgia waters each year, with an economic impact of $45 million annually. For every $1 invested in the hatchery programs, anglers spend an additional $73.
This is a step in the right direction for anglers across the country as fish hatcheries within the National Fish Hatchery System are facing challenges with federal funding as the FWS begins to shift priorities away from sportfish propagation.
- See more at: http://www.sportsmenslink.org/the-media-room/news.
About CSF
Since 1989 the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) has maintained a singleness of purpose that has guided the organization to become the most respected and trusted sportsmen’s organization in the political arena. CSF’s mission is to work with Congress, governors, and state legislatures to protect and advance hunting, angling, recreational shooting, and trapping. The unique and collective force of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC), the Governors Sportsmen’s Caucus (GSC) and the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses (NASC), working closely with CSF, and with the support of major hunting, angling, recreational shooting, and trapping organizations, serves as an unprecedented network of pro-sportsmen elected officials that advance the interests of America’s hunters and anglers.
For more information, visit www.sportsmenslink.org.