The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission heard a report on the public input on the new deer and turkey management process and an invasive carp update among its business at its first 2024 meeting held on Friday.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency held public meetings and solicited online input for comment on draft regulation packages related to the new deer and turkey management process. This new approach better utilizes science and improved data sources for setting annual hunting seasons from a set of pre-developed regulation packages.
TWRA staff received over 10,000 public comments related to draft regulations and created a summary of those comments using AI to eliminate any staff bias.
The input summaries were used to create the presented regulation packages to be considered annually in the new process. Mark McBride, TWRA assistant chief for Game Species Section, made the presentation.
The TWRA will present its full recommendations for the 2024-25 hunting season at the March TFWC meeting. The
Commission will vote the proposals at the April meeting.
Cole Harty, Aquatic Nuisance Species coordinator for the TWRA Fisheries Division, presented the update on invasive carp in the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and Reelfoot Lake. Invasive carp refers to four species-silver, bighead, grass, and black carp. In addition to the current distribution of carp, the prevention and management actions being implemented by TWRA and partners were discussed.
There are two major tools to prevent and control carp including removal and deterrents. Through the Tennessee Carp Harvest Incentive Program (TCHIP), 28 million pounds have been removed since September 2018. In fiscal year 2023, more than 8 million pounds were removed. Experimental deterrents are also showing approximately 50 percent effectiveness for preventing carp from traveling upstream.
Dr. Brad Cohen, Tennessee Tech University, reported on the mallard telemetry research project, now beginning its fifth year on state and federal refuges in West Tennessee. The projects provide critical data on waterfowl migration and hunting pressure and reveals that waterfowl populations increase where there is less hunting pressure.
TFWC Chairman Tommy Woods appointed Commissioner Hank Wright to serve as chairman for the 2024-25 TFWC Officer Nominating Committee which will also include commissioners Rhonda Moody and Brad Box. Vice chairman Jimmy Granbery will be the Legacy Award Committee chair, and Commissioners Stan Butt and Rhonda Moody will serve as committee members. The Legacy Award was founded in 2021 to recognize individuals who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to hunting, fishing and other outdoor lifestyles of Tennessee.