Conservation & Environment

Most Americans are familiar with that tale of early agricultural history, as one part of the story of the first Thanksgiving.  But very few know that the fish, which was so important to the early colonists, was menhaden. WASHINGTON – January 5, 2012 — School children are often taught how the first settlers at Plymouth survived by learning from Native Americans to plant their corn seeds with a fish alongside.  As the fish decayed in the ground, it provided fertilizer to the young plant, which would otherwise have perished in the barren New England soil.
 
Most Americans are familiar with that tale of early agricultural history, as one part of the story of the first Thanksgiving.  But very few know that the fish, which was so important to the early colonists, was menhaden.
 
Menhaden’s first use in North America was as a fertilizer, and though 400 years later we still use it for that purpose, the applications for the oils and fishmeal derived from this small fish today are multifold.
 
Menhaden has seen use as a fuel, as an ingredient in industrial commodities, and most recently as a nutritional supplement. Once making up an economy that spanned most of the Atlantic coast, the menhaden fishery is now centered in the town of Reedville, in Virginia’s Northern Neck.. Though only a few blocks wide and populated by an estimated 2,000 people, Reedville is the largest port on the East coast in terms of volume, largely because of the menhaden fishery, which has dominated the economic and cultural life of Reedville since the 19th century.
 
In the 1860s, the menhaden fishery was based out of New England and Long Island, New York, with most of the menhaden caught used to make oil. Prior to the widespread use of petroleum, which had first been discovered in 1859, oil from sea creatures was the primary oil for lubrication, illumination, fuel, and other products. That need was first was filled by whale oil. As demand for oil increased, and whales became an increasingly rare sight off the New England coast, the abundant schools of menhaden were used to fill the need for readily available and relatively cheap fuel. Dozens of factories were operating in the region by the end of the decade.
 
Elijah Reed, a menhaden fisherman from Maine, became frustrated with the competitive fishing in his home state and the diminishing returns from the highly competitive fishery and sought out more abundant grounds. This led him in 1867 to the Chesapeake Bay, which was a largely untapped menhaden fishing ground. He established facilities at a site on Cockrell’s Creek in Reedville, where he founded the town that bears his name today. Proving successful, his business led to the arrival of many other similar enterprises.
 
“Most of them were family businesses,” says Donald George, the archivist at the Reedville Fisherman’s Museum, describing the early menhaden industry. “Jobs were passed down from father to son.”
 
Out of the many family-owned companies formed in and around Reedville, which at their peak controlled nearly 70 boats fishing much of the East Coast, only the one started by the Haynie family remains. It is known today as Omega Protein.
 
The Haynies have roots in the Reedville area that reach back to the founding of the Virginia colony. Brothers Thomas and John Haynie began their menhaden business in Reedville in 1878. Over time, the business was known by many names, including Reedville Oil and Guano and Haynie Products.
 
The menhaden industry reached its peak in the early-to-mid 20th century, with dozens of companies fishing out of the Northern Neck. “Almost every [Reedville] native has some relative who once worked at a fish plant,” says Monty Diehl, the current manager of Omega’s Reedville plant. “There are strong cultural ties to fishing.”
 
In the earliest years of the fishery through the mid-20th century, menhaden fishing was a labor-intensive business, with dozens of men required to manually operate the equipment.  In those days before refrigeration, they also needed to rapidly transport the catch to shore before it spoiled. In the mid-twentieth century, the fleet became increasingly mechanized.
 
“In the 1950s, you had the power lock, which reduced the need for labor, nylon nets, so you could catch larger loads, and refrigeration, which helped reduce the need for boats,” says George. These technological changes along with some years of poor harvests and increasing regulatory pressure, according to George, led to the consolidation of the fleet in the post-war era.
 
In the 1970s, the Haynie’s business was purchased by the Zapata Corporation, and changed its name to Zapata Haynie, and later Zapata Protein. In the 1990s, it changed its name once more to Omega Protein, and became a publicly listed company in 1998. Omega became completely independent of Zapata in 2006.
 
Omega continues to operate out of Reedville, where the industry, while smaller than it once was, remains critically important to the economy of the Northern Neck. The plant employs 300 workers, but provides for hundreds more jobs indirectly through contractors, vendors, and suppliers. Almost all of the company’s vendors are in the Northern Neck area, and Omega’s total operations are estimated to contribute $88 million in economic output in the region, with over $10 million in payroll and benefits, according to a 2011 economic impact study sponsored by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
 
Menhaden holds a special place in the cultural history of Reedville. It remains the primary employment opportunity for young people in the area, where many have made their careers in the fishery. Diehl estimates the average tenure of an Omega employee is 20 years, with some employees staying with the company over 45 years, adding that most of Omega’s Reedville employees have multi-generational ties to the business.
 
“This is more like a family business than a corporate entity,” Diehl explains. “The name has changed many times over the years, but the same people work here like their fathers have and their grandfathers have.”
 
As the industry has grown and evolved, the use of menhaden oil has expanded well beyond its original applications. Originally a fertilizer, then a fuel, by the 20th century menhaden oil found use as a lubricant and as an ingredient in various industrial and consumer products, such as paint and cosmetics. Beginning in the 1980s, menhaden oil was discovered to serve a beneficial role for use in animal feed, a trend that expanded in the 1990s to include its use in pet food and feed for domestic animals.
 
In 1997, after years of research and development, the FDA awarded the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) designation to the use of ultra highly refined menhaden oil in human food products. Menhaden oil is rich is omega 3 fatty acids, which have been shown to have a variety of health benefits, including improved blood circulation and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. As the benefits of omega 3 consumption have become better known, menhaden oil has experienced a marked increase in its popularity. Today there are an ever-expanding variety of products boasting omega 3 as an ingredient, and much of that comes from menhaden-derived omega 3 fatty acids.
 
Responding to the demands of a developing market, Omega Protein has expanded beyond the fishery’s traditional focus on fish oil and fishmeal, and is moving into the health supplements market. This began on a small scale in 2000 with the manufacturing of omega 3 supplement capsules. Expansion into the health market continued with the 2010 acquisition of Cyvex Nutrition, an Irvine, California-based health and nutrition supplement company; through Cyvex, Omega distributes OmegaActiv, an omega 3 capsule that is certified as sustainable by environmental non-profit Friend of the Sea. Omega continued its move into the nutritional market in 2011 by acquiring InCon, a chemical manufacturer that, among other things, produces concentrated omega 3 fish oil and is located in Batavia, Illinois.
 
 
 

This was a historic year for United States ocean management. Thirty-five years after the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) was enacted, we have finally established a system that, if implemented properly, will keep countless marine species healthy and ensure fishermen stay on the water.

By early 2012, science-based annual catch limits should be in place for all of our federally managed ocean fisheries. The regional management councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) deserve a lot of credit for their hard work and their pragmatic and innovative approaches to achieve this important goal. Based on my 25 years of experience with these issues (including a four-year stint at the Fisheries Service), I know this was an extremely heavy lift, and we at Pew congratulate NMFS Director Eric Schwaab and the regional councils on this remarkable accomplishment.

Although we are making significant progress toward restoring depleted fish populations, the job of ending overfishing is far from complete. We also cannot ignore the fact that some fishermen have been hit hard by the short-term quota reductions that are needed to reverse decades of mismanagement.

Read the complete story from The National Geographic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 10 years of meetings, workshops and panels, federal fishery officials finally have been convinced to end years of overfishing for the Atlantic menhaden, a small silvery prey fish that is an essential food source for countless marine predators.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in August approved new targets and limits for the menhaden, often called “the most important fish in the sea” because of its forage value. The new rule is being finalized for implementation in the 2013 fishing season.

The National Coalition for Marine Conservation, the country’s oldest public advocacy for conserving marine species established in 1973, led the fight.

“This is an historic moment,” said Ken Hinman, president of the coalition. “The benefits of leaving more menhaden in the water will ripple throughout the coastal ecosystem, improving the environment for so many other species and so many other fisheries.”

There are several species of menhaden, a seasonal migration baitfish also known as the pogy and bunker, the largest of which is the Atlantic menhaden, which averages 8 inches in length and grows to 12 inches. It ranges from Nova Scotia to Florida and is known for collecting into large schools which, in turn, attract sport fish such as king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, tarpon, cobia and jack crevalle.

For years, the so-called “reduction industry” has targeted millions of pounds of menhaden for fish meal and oil for industrial and agricultural uses. The term for the industry, established in the early 19th century, comes from the fact that it “reduces” the fish down to the end product. According to the coalition, it’s the largest fishery, by volume, on the Eastern Seaboard, landing an average 200,000 metric tons of menhaden a year. The latest figures are for 2010, when vessels caught 183,000 metric tons.

Read the full column by Bill Sargent at Florida Today.

Analysis: While the article claims that that recent regulatory decisions by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) were made in response to "years of overfishing," recent data collected by the ASMFC does not support that assertion. In it's 2010 stock assessment, the ASMFC concluded that the menhaden stock was not overfished, and that overfshing had only occurred once in the last ten years. Similarly, while menhaden are currently around 10 percent of their Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), this is not a sign that menhaden are overfished; menhaden MSP has rarely exceeded 10 percent in the past several decades, and at that level the population has historically been able to rebuild itself. There is little correlation between menhaden recruitment and MSP: recruitment is cyclical, with levels of high and low recruitment occurring mostly independent of MSP.

Sustainable seafood is no flash in the frying pan. All across the United States, supermarket operators and the companies that supply them are rolling out stringent programs to ensure that the product they offer green-minded consumers is as eco-friendly as possible. Aiding the retailers in their fishy endeavors are several well-regarded nonprofit certification organizations that work with trading partners to encourage sustainable fishing and sourcing practices.

Minneapolis-based Target Corp. made big waves in October when it pledged to sell only sustainable, traceable fresh and frozen seafood products by 2015 as a result of a partnership with Santa Cruz, Calif.-based FishWise.

Springfield, Mass.-based Big Y also recently adopted the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) chain of custody certification for its fresh seafood counters. The London-based council's distinctive blue ecolabel now appears in the retailer's fresh seafood cases to help customers identify MSC-certified wild-caught product.

Read the complete story from Progressive Grocer

 

 

 

 

 

The most important fish in the sea is facing an uphill battle for survival.

The Atlantic menhaden—a type of herring—is highly sought after by both fish and fisherman. Menhaden, also known as “bunker” or “pogy” to many anglers, is being fished at unsustainable rates and its population has plunged down below 10 percent of historic levels.

RSMAS Marine Biology & Fisheries Professor Jerry Ault is worried about these little plankton-eating fish and the ripple effect their dwindling numbers could send through the entire U.S. Atlantic coast marine ecosystem.

The coastal migration of menhaden schools intersects with the movements—and stomachs—of many larger and more highly valued predators. In Florida, the “Silver King” (Atlantic tarpon), king mackerel, sharks, cobia, and birds like brown pelicans, bald eagles, and ospreys, as well as Royal and Sandwich terns all rely upon these tiny fish to fuel their migrations.

“Wherever they travel, Atlantic menhaden feed on plankton, converting it into fatty, high-nutrient tissue that larger fish then readily consume to fuel their own migrations,” Ault explains. “All of these larger fish need the rich menhaden flesh for sustenance and reproductive power.”

In Chesapeake Bay, they are the primary diet for striped bass, bluefish and weakfish. As they head south for the winter, they cross paths with Atlantic tarpon off the Florida coast. When they head north again in late spring and summer, as far as the waters off Cape Cod, they become prey to bluefin tuna as well as many other ocean giants.

Read the full story at the University of Miami Rosentiel School blog.

Analysis: It's important to not that the most recently available scientific data on the menhaden fishery does not indicate that the stock is overfished, nor does it indicate a recent pattern of overfishing. The 2010 stock assessment by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) concluded that menhaden were currently not overfished, and that overfishing had only occurred once in the last ten years.

Similarly, the claim that the menhaden population is "below 10 percent of historic levels" is misleading. Menhaden are fished to around 10 percent of their Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is not an historical figure but rather an estimate of a theoretical unfished population.

 

Ocean acidification — caused by climate change — looks likely to damage crucial fish stocks. Two studies published today in Nature Climate Change reveal that high carbon dioxide concentrations can cause death and organ damage in very young fish.

The work challenges the belief that fish, unlike organisms with shells or exoskeletons made of calcium carbonate, will be safe as marine CO2 levels rise.

Oceans act like carbon sponges, drawing CO2 from the atmosphere into the water. As the CO2 mixes with the water, it forms carbonic acid, making the water more acidic. The drop in pH removes calcite and aragonite — carbonate minerals essential for skeleton and shell formation — from the marine environment.

This can mean that corals, algae, shellfish and mollusks have difficulty forming skeletons and shells or that their shells become pitted and dissolve.

Read the complete story in The Journal Nature

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few weeks ago, in an historic vote, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) decided it was time to set new standards for how it manages menhaden, an essential fish to the entire coastal ecosystem. But due to overfishing in 32 of the past 54 years, menhaden’s population had fallen to a mere 8 percent of what it once was–its lowest point on record!

After thousands of letters and e-mails (including 1,036 from CBF advocates) as well as comments at public ASMFC hearings, it became clear just how important this fish is not only to our waters, but to the human community it supports.

Bill Goldsborough, CBF’s Director of Fisheries and ASMFC Commissioner, fought for years for the protection of this fish, which up until now had hardly been managed at all. His persistence was instrumental in bringing about this landmark decision to establish a healthy population of menhaden for all of us. Check out the video above for Goldsborough's reactions to the vote just moments after it happened.

Read the article at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Analysis: The article is misleading when it claims the menhaden population is "8 percent of what it once was." The figure refers to menhaden's Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP) which is an estimate of a theoretical unfished population, and not an historical measurement. Mehaden are fished to around 8 percent MSP, but that alone does not indicate overfishing: menhaden have historically been able to rebuild their population at that level, and the stock is not currently considered overfished by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Most folks know that the ASMFC’s Menhaden Board has finally taken action to begin the process of restoring the menhaden population.

The objectives are stated in two forms. One, a “threshold” or limit where if mortality has exceeded the anticipated level action to meet the objective of 15% of the mature stock left in the water must be taken. To make this goal achievable, a target equal to 30% left in the water was established. To achieve the target a reduction in harvest of 37% would be required using the 2010 harvest as a base. Reductions would apply to total landings which would impact both the bait and reduction industries. Currently the reduction industry takes +/- 80% of the harvest (all landings in Virginia) while the bait harvest takes up the other 20% up and down the Atlantic Seaboard While the objectives were clearly stated in Board action, a commitment to manage to the target was not. The implication is that this issue would be addressed in upcoming sessions where the methods to be employed to achieve these goals will be decided.

The business of allocating the allowable catch among the various interests will be difficult at best. For the first time it will be necessary to restrict income production from various business enterprises from a family operated pound net to Omega’s very sophisticated fishing and processing activities. It will become a pocketbook issue where all will suffer some, some more than others. There are no directives that specify that all participants would be curtailed equally, the Board has complete latitude in how they apportion the allowable catch if quota is the chosen method for management of the harvest. This immediately raises the concerns about jobs disappearing; how many and whose?

One of the documents which was produced just in advance of the November 9 meeting was the long awaited Economic Study by VIMS. This document contained some 226 pages. Given the timing, it is unlikely that the Commissioners paid much attention to its contents. The study covered only the area surrounding the Chesapeake Bay although decisions regarding menhaden are coastwide. The authors frankly admitted that a coastal evaluation was not feasible. Some of the data contained indicate that Omega’s sale volume has increased appreciably to $ 60,000,000, due for the most part to an increasing market for fish meal products without a commensurate increase in availability leading to rapidly increasing prices. Employment at Reedville was steady at 300 during peak periods. Seasonal labor is a significant factor as the data indicates roughly 100 employees during the slack season. Some of the other data in this voluminous document are quite interesting. One of the tables indicates that if total reduction harvest was limited to 81,000 metric tons the plant would be at break even. From an average harvest of 141,000 metric tons a cut of 40% would be required to put total employment in jeopardy. While reductions of as much as 37% from 2010 harvest of 183,000 metric tons have been calculated, it does appears, if the data is accurate, that severe reductions would in fact take place but the claim of 300 jobs does not seem valid. It could be that the issue of jobs and impact on the surrounding area is considerably less important than the loss of profit at the corporate level. A large portion of the study examines how people value fish left in the water versus employment at Reedville. I’ve really got to study this in more depth to see if such an evaluation is likely to accurately predict how people would react if given all the pertinent information .

Read the article at Save Menhaden.

For well over a century, commercial and recreational anglers have argued about menhaden harvesting. In the past few decades, however, conservationists who may or may not be anglers have also entered the fray, advocating for tighter controls on harvesting. The battle lines have been drawn between conservationists and recreational anglers on the one hand, who see commercial anglers as greedy and malevolent despoilers of our natural resources, and commercial anglers on the other hand, who argue that while others are out fishing for fun, they're working these resources to provide for their families.

Once upon a time the East Coast menhaden industry was very strong, outstripping even the commercial whaling industry. More than 150 processing plants dotted the Eastern seaboard, with more than a dozen in the state of Maine alone. Docks were filled with millions of tons of menhaden that, when sold, catapulted the coastal towns that housed them to prosperity. Times have certainly changed: Now just one East Coast plant still operates. Houston-based Omega Protein, which has another processing center in Louisiana, is the largest harvester of menhaden in North America and is viewed by many as the prime culprit in dwindling menhaden stocks. Their East Coast fleet of nine ships, some of which can hold a million menhaden at a time, are a common sight in the Chesapeake Bay. The ships work closely with their spotter planes to find, harvest, and then deliver menhaden to their processing plant in Reedville, Virginia. The plant employs about 300 workers and processes millions of pounds of menhaden each season, turning the oily baitfish into industrial products like lubricants, heart-healthy food supplements, pet food, and, ironically, commercial fish food. The company?s industrial fishing fleet accounts for about 80 percent of the menhaden harvested on the East Coast.

The remaining 20 percent of menhaden is harvested commercially by much smaller independent operators like Lund Seafood in Cape May, New Jersey, which fishes for a variety of species and then sells those fish to customers along the East Coast. Ocean Bait Inc. of Weems, Virginia, is an even smaller commercial operator that sells all its fish to a single wholesaler, which in turn distributes the fish to points south. Occasionally packing limitations prevent Ocean Bait from processing all of the menhaden it catches, in which case it sells what is left over to Omega Protein. Most of the menhaden caught by smaller commercial anglers end up as bait for crabbers, lobstermen, and of course bait and tackle shops, which eventually resell to recreational anglers.

For many years conservationists, recreational anglers, and commercial fishermen have argued over just how many menhaden need to be left in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding area. Humans don?t eat menhaden, but just about everything else in the ocean does. Also known as bunker, pogie, and fatback, menhaden are a prime target for predator species and are crucial to the survival and health of other marine life like crabs, lobsters, ospreys, and even loons. (Menhaden, by the way, aren?t the only forage fish fly anglers should care about: Popular gamefish like trout, stripers, and bass eat spring runs of river herring and shad once they enter their natal rivers to spawn. Unfortunately, these river herring are also seeing their numbers decline precipitously.)

Read the full article at Save Menhaden.

Analysis:  The article is misleading when it says the menhaden population is "8 percent of its historical size." That estimate refers to menhaden's Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is an estimate of the size of a theoretical unfished population, not an historical measurement. Menhaden are fished to around 8 perent of their MSP, but this is not a sign that they are overfished; the population has historically been able to rebuild at that level, and MSP is poorly correlated with menhaden recruitment.

It is also important to note that the stock is not currently overfished. In its 2010 stock assessment, the ASMFC concluded that overfishing did occur in 2008. However, this was not enough for the ASMFC to declare the fishery overfished; the overfishing in 2008 only slightly exceeded the mortality threshold, and egg production in the fishery was still at target levels. This was the only time in the last ten years that the population had experienced overfishing.

BOSTON, MASS. — At one time, a little fish called menhaden was so plentiful that schools of them would cover a square half-mile of ocean, providing a bounty for the predator fish that leapt among them.

Terry Gibson, a charter boat operator in Florida, recalled the scene from his childhood. Nowadays, he said, schools of menhaden might fill 20 or 30 square yards — if that.

“Kids now think that that’s a big school of menhaden. It’s not,” he said. “It’s a story that’s played out from Maine to Key West. They’re disappearing.”

Gibson was one of the speakers during a telephone conference earlier this month, regarding the management of the menhaden fishery. The teleconference was held in conjunction with the latest meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which subsequently approved new management measures aimed at boosting the abundance of menhaden and its spawning stock biomass.

The measure came in the form of Addendum V to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden.

According to a press release from the ASMFC, the new measure will result in harvest reduction. Just how much of a reduction is involved has not yet been worked out, the release said.

According to the ASMFC, overfishing of menhaden is occurring.

According to a press release from the Pew Environment Group, which hosted the teleconference, menhaden is often called “the most important fish in the sea.”

Read the full article at the Bar Harbor Times.

Analysis: The article is not entirely correct in saying that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) says overfishing is occurring. It is true that, in its 2010 stock assessment, the ASMFC concluded that overfishing did occur in 2008. However, this was not enough for the ASMFC to declare the fishery overfished; the overfishing in 2008 only slightly exceeded the mortality threshold, and egg production in the fishery was still at target levels.

Also misleading is the quote that the menhaden population is at "10 percent of what it was historically." That estimate refers to menhaden's Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is an estimate of the size of a theoretical unfished population, not an historical measurement. Menhaden are fished to around 10 perent of their MSP, but this is not a sign that they are overfished; the population has historically been able to rebuild at that level, and MSP is poorly correlated with menhaden recruitment.

The article also overestimates menhaden's role as a filter feeder. Recent studies have found that menhaden have little impact on overall water quality.