Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency addresses dead fish at Jacks Creek

Chester County resident’s have been worried about the local environment after finding several dead catfish in a slough off of Jacks Creek Road in Jacks Creek.
Though the situation is still under investigation, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Aquatic Habitat Biologist/DSO/Dive Instructor, Allen Pyburn stated the following from his visit to the slough at 6 a.m. the morning of Wednesday, May 26, “Upon arrival I observed approximately 100-150 dead/decaying Channel Catfish and Blue Catfish ranging in size from 2 pounds to 15 pounds each. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation have taken water quality readings from the waterbody and all the readings have come back within normal parameters so we are confident this isn’t an environmental concern.”
He continued to explain that he has concluded the dead fish were dumped at the site.
“The small body of water that these fish were located in could not have supported these numbers nor the size classes that were present. It is my professional opinion that these fish had died maybe in a farm pond or some other private body of water and were collected and then dumped from the bridge into this body of water.”
This investigation is ongoing.