December 2022 Paddlers ask Legislature to Update Trotline Regulation

Testimony from Brandon Archer's Mother and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary
Does Not Convince Tennessee's Fish and Wildlife Commission to Consider
Common Sense Changes to Tennessee's Trotline Regulations

Please send the email below to ask the Tennessee State Legislature to watch this compelling testimony and then pass a bill to solve this dilemma.

To learn more about the most recent testimony to the Fish and Wildlife Commission:

Tennessee Lookout, December 2: Paddler Groups Frustrated by Lack of Regulation by State Wildlife Agency

The Daily Memphian: Tennessee's Trotline Decision Delayed

News Channel 9: TFWC Passes New Trotline Regulations; Not Enough to Satisfy Paddlers

ACA Tennessee: TWRA Resists Calls for Common Sense Changes to Trotline Regulation

Watch the testimony at the Fisheries Committee Meeting on Dec 1
Fisheries section begins at 1:40
Testimony begins at 1:57
Commission discussion begins at 2:36

Watch the discussion from the full Wildlife Commission meeting on Dec 2
Fisheries section begins at 1:31

? Take future action with a single click.
Log in or Sign up for FastAction

Contact Information

Prefix First Name Last Name

Street Address

Postal Code City State

Email Home Phone (Optional)

Remember me so that I can use FastAction next time.

(Optional)

Personalize your subject

Dear [elected official],

Personalize your message

Tennessee has already had one fatality and one near miss due to unmonitored or abandoned trotlines. Please watch the exceptionally compelling testimony from December 1 asking Tennessee's Fish and Wildlife Commission to change the trotline regulations.  Testimony was provided by a number of citizen advocates from Tennessee paddling groups as well as Courtney Archer, mother of Brandon Archer, and Robin Pope, a representative from the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and father of David Pope. Brandon Archer tragically died while caught in a trotline on the Buffalo River in 2019. David Pope has a near miss encounter with a trotline on the Nolichucky River in 2021.

December 1 Fish and Wildlife Commission Meeting: https://youtu.be/sAQd0dRpYkM
Fisheries section begins at  1:40
Testimony begins at 1:57
Commission discussion begins at 2:36

I agree with ACA Tennessee that we should not have regulations that allow one sportsman to deliberately create a lethal hazard for another sportsman.  On Dec 1, the Commission indicated a possible willingness to set up a 30 day workgroup to address these concerns, but at the Dec 2 meeting of the full commission, they were unwilling to commit on the record to holding this workgroup or including interested stakeholders in the discussion.

I ask you to implement the changes ACA Tennessee has requested to make the same common sense updates to our trotline regulation that have been made in Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

CC: Tennessee Senate Energy, Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee; Tennessee House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee, Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission

Sincerely, [Your information here]