LAKE WILSON – The Tennessee River fishery is in pretty good shape, and has been for some amount of time. that’s the word from the biologists who continually sample the aquatic life in the waterway. Wednesday, media and members of the public were invited our to Lake Wilson to have a look-see at the job they are doing. The procedure that was underway was electric shock and river-bottom dredging. In the first case, fish are hit with a harmless electric charge to temporarily immobilize them and they are scooped up in a net for study of their general health. Once the procedure is finished the fish are returned to the river. The other procedure, scooping up the samples form the river bottom, lets the biologists observe the general quality of the bottom material and the small, aquatic life that lives there.
Here’s what TVA said in their media release:
“TVA regularly monitors fish and other aquatic life in various reservoirs across the Tennessee Valley region and invites local anglers and the public to participate. The fish are collected using boat-mounted, electro-fishing equipment. The units harmlessly stun the fish for a brief time and bring them to the surface, where they are examined and evaluated by TVA biologists. TVA also samples bottom-dwelling organisms to help measure overall reservoir health.”
