May 5, 2015 — Congressman Rob Wittman (R- VA) wrote a letter this week to Louis Daniel, the Chair of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) requesting that, at the ASMFC’s spring meeting held today in Alexandria, Virginia, the Commission increase the coast-wide menhaden harvest by 20 percent.
According to the Congressman, the results of the most recent ASMFC stock assessment “reflect what so many fishermen and environmentalists in my District and in the Commonwealth of Virginia have witnessed, which is that Atlantic menhaden are abundant on the East Coast,” and that “the science ASMFC has developed substantiates that at least a 20 percent increase in the menhaden catch share is appropriate.”
The Commission ultimately decided to raise the menhaden quota by 10 percent, a decision that has the support of the menhaden fishery.