While the fight right now is against the Coronavirus, fights against other invasive things like Asain carp, now found in the Cumberland River and other tributaries, including Stones River are continuing.

Tennessee will receive federal funding to fight Asian carp as part of a 25-million dollar budget appropriation recently passed by Congress. Asian carp are now found in all three of Tennessee's major waterways -- from the Mississippi river to the Tennessee River north of Chattanooga.

Mike Butler of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation says Asian carp have no natural predators, consume the food sources of native fish and can devastate habitats, among other traits of invasive species.



Asian carp originally were brought to the United States in the 1970s to help maintain ponds used for aquaculture. Butler says the funding will be allocated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Geological Survey.