By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.—The growing Asian Carp problem in area waterways was on everyone’s minds at a roundtable discussion Friday morning involving Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), State Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris), Henry County Mayor Brent Greer, Paris Mayor Carlton Gerrell, Paris City Manager Kim Foster, TWRA Officials, UTM Director of Research Charley Deal and local processors and commercial fishermen.
The session was held at the North American Caviar company on Barnhill Road in Paris, which is a licensed wholesale fish and caviar dealer and an Asian Carp processing and packaging plant.
North American Caviar is owned by Clay Young, Christel Linsman Young and Kenneth Linsman, all of whom were at the session, along with several of the local commercial fishermen who work with them.
Young provided Blackburn with background on the company, which until a few months ago averaged 40,000-50,000 pounds a month of Asian Carp, but with their new contracts, are now at 112,000 pounds in June and 198,000 pounds of Asian Carp in July.
Young told Blackburn and the other officials, “We’re at our max now”. For the company to expand as needed to help combat the Asian Carp problem will take additional equipment and parking lot expansion. “It was o.k. when we just had boats and trucks coming in here,” Young said, but as they’ve expanded, they’re seeing a lot more 18-wheeler semis used for the business.
Local fishermen, including Neil Matlock, told a similar story. Matlock has been a commercial fisherman for six years and said his equipment also is at capacity now. “Our boat isn’t set up to handle the Asian Carp. They’re very dangerous fish. We work late and early mornings and you can’t see them coming. They tear your boat apart.”
Matlock said more incentives are needed for area fishermen to get more interested.
TWRA Fisheries Chief Frank Fiss said, “Commercial fishing is the most efficient way to get the fish out of the water but we also try to contain them with a barrier system.” He said there are 15 commercial fishing operations on Kentucky Lake and Barkley Lake now.
Gerrell said it is frustrating for local officials to see the attention for combating Asian Carp going to the Great Lakes area. “Henry County is 35th in the state in tourism dollars. That’s how important tourism is to us. We lost three major tournaments that went to East Tennessee instead of here” which cost the local economy thousands of dollars, he said.
Local Outdoor Writer Steve McCadams, who has a regular program on WENK/WTPR, said, “Asian Carp is the great unwanted guest to the party. Tourism is a big industry here and Asian Carp is hitting a big blow to us. It has hurt us dramatically. Bad news travels fast and local fishermen are getting a lot of bad news as to the Asian Carp we have here.”
McCadams told Blackburn that the federal government “needs to give these guys more tools and more incentives” to combat the problem.
Blackburn said, “It looks like getting the resources to your fishermen in a cost-efficient way is Item No. 1 and you need incentives. And need to be looking at opportunity zones, Rural Development and grants.”
Young said with more incentives his company could be expanded and hire even more employees than it has now. “The market is there,” he said. “We just have to have structure.”
Top photo: From left, Eric Ganus, Clay Young, State Rep. Bruce Griffey, Blackburn. Bottom photo: Workers sorting Asian Carp at North American Caviar. (Shannon McFarlin photos).
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