The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission (TFWC) will hold its April meeting in Henry County at the Holly Fork Shooting Complex located near Paris.
Committee meetings will start at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, while the regular commission meeting is Friday, April 26 at 9 a.m.
The meeting will be the first with Kurt Holbert (Decaturville) serving as TFWC chair. Other officers elected at the last meeting held in February are vice chair Brian McLerran (Moss) and secretary Angie Box (Jackson).
It will also be the first meeting for appointed commissioners Jimmy Granbery (Nashville), Steve Jones (Clinton), Jim Ripley (Kodak), Thomas Woods (Piney Flatts), and Hank Wright (Collierville).
Among the items on the April agenda is an update on efforts to combat Asian carp. Frank Fiss, Fisheries Division chief for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, will present information on the agency teaming with commercial fishermen to remove Asian carp from Tennessee waterways through the Asian Carp Harvest Incentive Program (ACHIP). In the past six months, more than 600,000 pounds of fish have been removed. Fiss will also discuss the support from congressional representatives, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, and the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resources Association.
James Kelly, Deer Management Program leader, will share a concept being considered for hunting regulations for CWD (chronic wasting disease) positive and high-risk counties.
The TWRA is constantly striving to provide more opportunities for families and millennials to try hunting and fishing. These efforts are keys in increasing hunting and angler numbers in the state. Jenifer Wisniewski, Outreach and Communications Division chief will make a proposal to develop a statewide program that would reach thousands of Tennesseans who do not hunt or fish each year.
Don King, Multi-Media Division chief, will provide previews for several of the new videos recently produced for television, radio, Pandora and Social media.