January 26, 2012 — Another session of the General Assembly means more controversy about an oily little fish called menhaden.
Lawmakers will consider at least four bills related to regulating the harvest of this species, which provides hundreds of jobs in a fishing industry centered for more than a century on the rural Northern Neck peninsula.
Silver colored and massing in great schools, menhaden are not eaten by humans but are fodder for many popular game fish, including striped bass and bluefish, as well as dolphins and brown pelicans. They also filter pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay. Environmentalists have been clamoring for more protections for decades, only to be rebuffed by politicians who manage the fish from Richmond.
Perhaps the most sweeping proposal this year would have Virginia withdrawing from a coastal regulatory body, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which wants to impose new catch limits on menhaden in 2013. The commission, with members from Maine to Florida, argues that stocks are stressed and need relief.
The withdrawal bill is sponsored by state Sen. Richard Stuart, a Republican who represents sections of the Northern Neck, including the menhaden industry's capital, the town of Reedville. There, tons of the fish are ground up each year into animal feed, fertilizer and omega-3 health supplements.
Environmental groups and sports fishermen oppose the bill, saying it would do little good and would represent the first time in 62 years that a state has quit the commission's compact.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other environmental groups instead support two proposals from state Sen. Ralph Northam, a Norfolk Democrat who also represents the Eastern Shore.