Bredesen fishing for angler votes with proposals to combat Asian carp?

Former Gov. Phil Bredesen, now running for the U.S. Senate as the presumptive Democratic nominee, says he learned a lot about Asian carp at the recent Paris Fish Fry and now has suggestions for dealing with the piscatory problem – including government subsidies for fishermen and sterilization.

Excerpt from an article written by Bredesen, as appearing in the Columbia Daily Herald:

Here are my thoughts as to some things that should be done:

Increase the commercial harvest of Asian carp

One very effective way to do this would be to provide some financial subsidies to commercial carp fishermen so that the harvest and sale of Asian carp would be more attractive economically. On land, we have subsidized the farming of some products for decades as a matter of national policy; it seems to me that some carefully tailored support for this aspect of commercial fishing would be a natural extension of this concept.

Physical removal of carp by wildlife management agencies

In addition to commercial and recreational fishing, wildlife management agencies can take an active role in trapping and otherwise removing these fish; federal grants to support this would be welcomed.

Release of sterile Asian carp to reduce the reproductive success of the species.

This has been employed successfully with other invasive species, and would need to be done on a broader national basis — it does no good to clean up Tennessee’s waters of these fish if there is a vast pool of others just waiting to move in.

Asian carp are not the biggest problem our country faces, but the problem is real and has a large impact on local sportsmen and local economies here in Tennessee. I’d like to help.

Note: Bredesen’s position is perhaps reminiscent of Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander fishing for angler votes by crusading against a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal to prohibit fishing immediately below dams on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers a couple of years prior to his 2016 reelection campaign. Post from the period HERE. (The Corps of Engineers proposal was ultimately scrapped.)