Fish-Friendly Waters
Do you like to fish? Then you’re probably interested in what TVA is doing to improve fishing!
If you’ve had time to look around this website, you may already know about one important effort: TVA helps fish below its dams by adding oxygen to the water it uses to make hydroelectricity and by making sure the riverbed doesn’t dry out when electricity isn’t being generated. Click here to learn more about TVA’s efforts to improve “tailwater” fishing.
But that’s just the beginning. TVA also:
- Collects information about the number, size, and health of fish in Valley reservoirs and streams each year.
- Helps state agencies make sure that fish are safe to eat—that they don’t contain pollutants that can cause cancer or other health problems.
- Tries to hold the water level in TVA reservoirs steady in the spring when fish are laying their eggs. (If reservoir levels drop at the wrong time, fish eggs can become stranded on the shore and die.)
- Works with states and people who fish to plant trees and install fish attractors (for example, Christmas trees, brush piles and other structures made by people) to provide shelter for fish.
- Works with farmers and waterfront property owners to improve conditions for fish by stabilizing the shoreline, leaving a strip of natural vegetation at the water’s edge, and fencing cattle out of streams.
- Works with government agencies and volunteers to increase the number of trout in Valley streams.