Politically and financially speaking, Tennessee fishermen are at much greater risk of losing trout fishing as a sport than the other states that are facing possible cuts in mitigation trout production in the southeast. This is why Tennesseans, more than any other state, must let each of our three congressmen know that we expect them to support the funding of our national fish hatcheries. Please see the post above that explains how to help. Particularly, it is Dale Hollow NFH that is at greatest risk of all six southeastern hatcheries that engage in mitigation activities. Without Dale Hollow NFH, Tennessee loses the capacity to produce 60% of the state's reared trout for stocking; a total of 1.2-1.3 million trout per year for Tennessee!

By far, Dale Hollow NFH has the highest percentage of trout produced for TVA-managed fisheries of the six hatcheries facing cuts. Erwin NFH produces some eggs for TVA, and Chattahoochee Forest NFH produces and stocks a small percentage for TVA, but Dale Hollow Produces about 58% of all it's production for TVA waters (as a percentage of weight grown). Unlike U.S. Army Core of Engineers (COE), TVA has not agreed to reimbursing any funds for growing mitigation fish; now or in the future. For the other five hatcheries, it is a very small amount of funding needed to fill in the gap for a full funding solution, because COE has agreed to pay 80% of the requested amount and future year negotiations look bright with respect to COE reimbursements. For Dale Hollow NFH, however, almost $600K a year is needed to cover the gap of non-reimbursed cuts to hatchery funding. This represents almost two-thirds of their operating budget. This makes the future of Dale Hollow NFH very bleak without congressional intervention into this dilemma.

The fact that only one state and one hatchery may be hurt additionally increases the chance that congress will not act, but it can be turned around if Tennesseans get all seven U.S. representatives that receive fish in their districts to support a solution and get both senators Alexander and Corker to support it's funding as well. That is enough political support to ensure permanent funding, but we need everyone to call, write or email all three of your representatives.