Electrofishing with TVA- by Ashley-Rose L.

After scheduling and canceling due to weather and rescheduling again several times, the River Fellows were finally able to go electroshocking with Kurt Lakin and associates from TVA. We weren’t exactly sure what electrofishing was, but we were excited to find out and hopefully catch some big fish! We soon found out that it is a way to catch fish that sends an electric current about 7-8 feet wide through the water to stun the fish before they are caught with nets. TVA uses this type of fishing as a surveying method used to accurately determine fish population in the rivers, as well as determine if the fish are healthy or not.  

While this shock doesn’t permanently harm the fish (it causes their muscles to tense and air bladders fill with air so they float up), we were warned that if we were to touch the water while the shock was being distributed, we could be injured.  

 Ashley-Rose, Hannah, Amanda, and Mrs. Couch were the first group that got to go in the electrofishing boat while Sarah, Anna, and I watched from another boat. It was really entertaining to see them pull up the heavy fish with their nets and try to dump them in a water filled bin that was in the boat without getting the others soaked. 

Ashley-Rose almost took the people in her boat out with the long pole of her net several times. Amanda caught prize fish their run: a huge Blue Catfish. We then drove over to the electrofishing boat to see what fish they had caught. There were several varieties of fish: Small Mouthed Basses, Red Breast Sunfish, and more!.

Instead of fishing near the rocks this time, Anna, Sarah, and I got to fish near McClellan Island. Because we were exploring a different kind of fish habitat, we caught several different kinds of fish than the previous group. We also got to see a tiny turtle in the water and family of mallard ducks.

Before this, I had never noticed or appreciated the bright, beautiful colors that fish have on their scales. It was so fun to go electrofishing with the guys from TVA and I hope we can do it again soon!

Living Lands and Waters Barge- By Ashley-Rose L.

Hello there! This is Ashley-Rose here to tell you about the Tucker River Fellow’s recent trip to the Living Lands and Waters (LL&W) Barge. So, what in the world is a Living Lands and Water’s Barge? LL&W is an organization established in 1998 by Chad Pregracke that works keep watersheds along the Mississippi River clean, spreads awareness of the importance of river conservation, and build a desire to keep our rivers clean amongst communities. 

The LL&W is a house barge that travels up and down the Mississippi River cleaning up trash and giving educational tours to school groups. The crew, including its canine members Pork Chop and Travis, lives on the barge for 6 to 7 months out of the year, constantly cleaning and educating! In the past 5 years, LL&W has collected over approximately 415 pounds of debris, some of which includes 20 tractors, 13 prosthetic limbs, a Ronald McDonald shoe, an electric guitar, 4 pianos, 3 sunken barges, 13 hot tubs, 77 messages in bottles, and 264 duck decoys. They give classes on the importance of recycling, sustainable fishing, macroinvertebrates, the effect of pollution on the entire food chain, and invasive species. We participated in the sustainable fishing and invasive species class. Both of these classes started with hands on activities and were followed by a powerpoint presentation and lecture explaining the activity we had just participated in and its relevance towards the topic. For sustainable seafood, the room was split up into “fisheries” or groups of 4 people around a cup of “fish” (a.k.a. goldfish and m&m’s). The job was to, as a fishery, make the most money at the end of five “seasons” (or 20 second rounds). To fish, you had to use a straw as your fishing pole and use suction to carry fish from the fishery cup into your own paper cup. Easy, right? Here’s the catch: you can’t catch to many fish all at once. At the end of each season your fishery receives one fish for every two of that kind. For example, to receive another two new m&m fish, you had to have four m&m fish left at the end of the season. The other captains in my fishery as well as myself were very ambitious, and made lots of money on our first season, however by our second season, all of our fish had been removed and our fishery was empty. This demonstrates the importance of monitoring fisheries, and to consume sustainably. You may be thinking “I’m not a commercial fisherman, this has nothing to do with me”, however there is something you can do. Whenever you are at the grocery store or at a restaurant, make sure the fish you buy is MSC certified. MSC certified fish is fished sustainably, and easy to identify by the MSC logo, which will most likely be on the front of the package. Use the power of your dollar and tell the suppliers that you want sustainably attained food! Also, in our class on invasive species, we learned how foreign species that are introduced can dominate native species and almost eradicate them if nothing is done. Often times these species have a wide range of diet, reproduce quickly, and can live through various conditions. Some examples of invasive species in Tennessee and along the Mississippi River are Honeysuckle and Asian Carp. 

An invasive plant- Honeysuckle 

So what can you do? Look up some plants that are native to your area and plant them. You can start a native plant garden either at your school or work (with permission, of course) or even in your own backyard. Also, you can participate in an Invasive Species Removal with the LL&W crew yourself! To learn more about LL&W, participate in an upcoming event, or plan a school trip or river cleanup project, check out their website at http://livinglandsandwaters.org.

Thanks for reading!

-Tucker River Fellows

Environmental Art- 3-installation session- By Sarah R.

On April 14, the River Fellows had our last environmental art session with Holly Berry. As mentioned in the last post, we have decided upon an art installation on the Bowman Terrace. This installation will consist of mounting old abandoned bikes to the wall of the Bowman Terrace and growing native vines (Pipevine and Caroline Jessimine) up the bikes. 

Installation in progress 

The blue bike was installed first and we hope to install the purple and yellow bikes in the near future. 

Painting the 'middle' bike yellow 

We are all very excited for what our art can bring to the school and outdoor patio environment. We consider ourselves very blessed for the opportunity to participate in such a great program as the River Fellows and to be given the opportunities to express our love for the environment in every way, especially art. More photos to come when the last two bikes are installed! We would like to thank Mr. Kreis and Mr. Horton for helping us out. You can see a time lapse and more photos on our flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/gp/124851807@N05/Z1s773

"This piece was designed and created by the GPS Tucker River Fellows, class of 2018, with the help of local environmental artist, Hollie Berry. The bikes are an example of how we can repurpose what seems to be junk into a meaningful, beautiful display. The bikes symbolize mobility and freedom, while the vines symbolize strong root systems and history. A bicycle has to be propelled, otherwise it will go nowhere. We are the driving factors in the protection of our environment, and we have to be the engine that works to keep our river, community, and ecosystem clean. This piece may also bring to mind how many of us take for granted our access to the river, plants and outdoor life around us. Through this project, we all learned a new, totally different, side to projects on environmental awareness."

-Anna Oglesby, Hannah Prescott, Sarah Roe and Dahpne Thomas