Council Actions

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), a consortium of 15 states from Maine to Florida, manages the fisheries for part of the Chesapeake Bay and for waters 3 to 200 miles off the East Coast. Created in 1942, the ASMFC is essentially the most important watchdog for—and sets and restricts the harvest levels of—a variety of fish, including the lowly menhaden, a small, oily baitfish that lies near the bottom of the food chain.

Today the harvest levels of the humble menhaden are the focus of much scrutiny and debate.

Just about everything consumes menhaden, including stripers, flounder, tuna, crabs, and even pelicans. Menhaden are a major source of nutrition for a whole host of sea creatures in the Chesapeake Bay (and up and down the entire Eastern Seaboard). Because they are such a crucial link in the food chain, many view menhaden as a bellwether species, the health of which provides insight into the overall health of the Chesapeake Bay. And that is why stakeholders greeted the news that the ASMFC’s latest stock assessment put menhaden spawning potential at just 8 percent of an unfished stock—a historically low level—with such despair.

Texas-based Omega Protein, the largest commercial harvester of menhaden in North America, has a processing plant in Reedville, Virginia. The company harvests about 240 million pounds of menhaden annually from the Chesapeake Bay using spotter planes and ships. These commercial vessels can nets as many as 50,000 menhaden at a time. The fish are then processed into a host of products including heart-healthy supplements, feed for dogs and swine, and ironically, commercial fish food.

Omega Protein’s large menhaden harvests have drawn sharp criticism from recreational anglers and conservation groups alike. Ben Landry, spokesman for Omega Protein, argues that the company is acting responsibly: “The menhaden fishery has been operating for over 130 years. Omega Protein’s fishing effort is considered lower than it has been for generations, since we are operating a mere nine vessels. So there is less fishing pressure on the stock and the fishing is now condensed to the mid-Atlantic region.”

Incidentally, Omega Protein is not the only commercial angler putting pressure on the menhaden fishery. Bait boats also gather menhaden for lobster traps and tackle shops and account for nearly 20 percent of all menhaden harvested. Because baitfish stocks in general appear to be in decline, tempers are flaring in New Jersey, where no limits have been imposed on harvesting menhaden as bait. Commercial bait fisherman from New England, unable to fish for river herring because of a moratorium put in place by the ASMFC, have seasonally shifted operations to New Jersey, where 30 million pounds of menhaden were harvested by bait anglers last year alone.

Read the full article at MidCurrent.

Analysis: The article underestimates the health of the menhaden fishery. Contrary to the claim made in the article, the current 8% maximum spawning potential (MSP) of the fishery is neither historically unusual nor a sign of an overfished population. In the past several decades, menhaden MSP has rarely risen above 10%, and at that level the population has traditionally been able to rebuild itself. This is important to consider, along with the fact that the menhaden fishery is currently considered not overfished, when discussing future changes in menhaden catch limits.

 

 

Growing up I hated bunker, a slang word for menhaden. I worked on the party boats and bunker were a job, something that had to be backed, chunked and ground into chum every morning and every evening before we went bluefishing.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission stated in their August 2011 Draft Addendum to the Fishery Management plan for Atlantic menhaden that the menhaden population has declined steadily and recruitment has been low since the last peak was observed in the early 1980s.

There are three types of fishermen making use of Atlantic menhaden. Recreational fishermen, commercial bait fishermen, and a single reduction fleet operated by Omega Protein, Inc.

Numbers on what recreational anglers take with cast and seine nets and snag hooks is based on MRFSS data and recognized by the ASMFC to be flawed. For example, in 2009 the recreational sector caught zero metric tons of bunker while averaging 126 metric tons a year since 1981 to the present. If that information is recognized to be flawed, how exact is the rest of the information?

“I think the response is very overblown. We have no problem with reasonable limits. We’re not opposed to a coast wide cap on bunker but how do you implement that? There are a lot of question marks here and we need better science from the ASMFC,” Jeff Kaelin from Lunds Fisheries in Cape May said.

Lunds operates commercial bait boats. On the entire Atlantic coast, the bait boats averaged catches of 36,000 metric tons of menhaden per year from 1985 to 2010. The commercial bait boats from New England have a substantial range, from Maine to New Jersey.

At their public hearings earlier in October, the ASMFC reported commercial bait boats accounted for 20 percent of the total menhaden harvest or 44,000 metric tons in 2010. The recreational sector accounted for less than a one percent. The rest of the harvest, 80 percent of it, came from Omega’s reduction fleet operating out of Reedville, Va.

Read the full article at MyCentralJersey.com

Analysis: When discussing the current health of the menhaden fishery, the article fails to mention that the most recent data collected indicates no pattern of overfishing. The most recent stock assessment concluded that menhaden were not overfished, and overfishing had only occurred once in the last ten years.

 

 

In an effort to help in communicating to the ASMFC our concern over the chronic overfishing of Atlantic Menhaden, Stripercoast Surfcasters Club urges fishermen coastwide to send in public comment on the ASMFC's Addendum V to the Atlantic Menhaden Fisheries Management Plan. 

Menhaden (also known as bunker or pogies), arguably one of the most important fish on the east coast, have been over fished in 32 of the last 54 years, and the menhaden population has declined by at least 88% in the last 3 decades.

It is time for the ASMFC to take a proactive approach to the management of this fishery and uphold its mission statement of achieving "Healthy, self-sustaining populations for all Atlantic Coast fish species, or successful restoration well in progress, by the year 2015." and curb the over harvest of this important forage fish.

The public comment period on this Addendum to reduce Atlantic Menhaden Harvest is open until 5pm on November 2, 2011.   PLEASE take a moment to send in your support of harvest reduction and stricter management measures!!

For a template email that you can copy/paste, and for more details on this subject, please visit: http://www.stripercoastsurfcasters.us/forum/showthread.p …

Jacob Freeman
National Chapter President
Stripercoast Surfcasters Club
http://www.stripercoastsurfcasters.us

Read the petition here.

Analysis: The petition's claim that menhaden is "chronically overfished" is not supported by recent fisheries data, which does not indicate a pattern of overfishing. In the most recent stock assessment, menhaden were not considered overfished, and overfishing had only occurred once in the last ten years.

 

 

What does the shortage of Atlantic menhaden mean to our striped bass fishery?

For starters, this high protein, nutrient-filled filter of the sea is an important staple. This fundamental resource supplies dietary essentials necessary to maintain healthy populations of stripers and other predaceous fish. Without an ample supply, Morone saxatilis is forced to forage on less healthy sea life, ultimately causing infections, disease and direct negative impacts to their ability to populate.

Unfortunately, there's no underwater pharmacy to prescribe nourishing supplements. The only source of protection would be to further prioritize this fishery and enhance our comprehensive Atlantic states management program. Bunker, as we call them (pogy up north), is believed to be one family of fish, as opposed to multiple families. For example, one family of striped bass originates from the Chesapeake, another from the Hudson and even a holdover population in Connecticut.
The problem lies with balancing the social and economic needs of the commercial industry, recreational industry, and a sustainable fishery population. We have a serious case of over-fishing. The demand for Atlantic menhaden is greater than its current population can withstand. They winter off the coast of Virginia and are processed by a Chesapeake reduction plant for fish oil and meal, protein supplements, food filler, and fertilizer, etc. Almost 40 percent of the total Atlantic coast landings by weight is generated from this one fishery. From the purse seines of trawlers to a mother ship to conveyer belts at the docks then loaded into tractor-trailers, tons of these fish are carted to a processing plant daily. One family of fish cannot withstand such pressure indefinitely! The Bay states have already seen what malnutrition is doing and are witnessing a decline in their striped bass population. Therefore, biological and environmental impacts must also be considered. Efforts are underway by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to conduct public hearings on Draft Addendum V to the Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Management Plan. The draft proposes "establishing a new interim fishing mortality threshold and target based on maximum spawning potential with the goal of increasing abundance, spawning stock biomass, and menhaden availability as a forage species." A full draft can be viewed at www.asmfc.org/ under the link "Breaking News."

 Read the full article at The Day.

Analysis: Recent data collected on the menhaden fishery does not support the article's claim that it is experiencing a "serious case of overfishing." The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) most recent assessment concluded that menhaden were currently not overfished. Incidences of overfishing have also been rare in the past ten years, having only occurred once (2008). This, along with an abundance level that is currently at target, does not indicate a pattern of overfishing in the Bay.

The article's claim that an alleged lack of menhaden are responsible for health problems in bass is also overstated. Menhaden are just one component of bass diet. They can make up as little as 9% of prey, as what bass eat is dependent on several factors independent of the menhaden fishery, including location of other prey species and water quality. The water quality factor also plays a role in the sickness in striped bass that the article mentions. Because run-off in the Bay has created low oxygen areas in the waters that bass usually inhabit, they are increasingly forced to feed in warmer, shallower waters; the temperature is not optimal for the bass, and as a result they can't feed properly. This makes them vulnerable to a number of diseases.

 

 

 

The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) met this week in Miami, where James Bruggers and other anointed bloggers and Tweeters kept active by reporting in 140-charcter blips from the SEJ panel events. One blogger Imelda Albano, President of Phil Network of Environmental Journalists, Inc. said of the event via the SEJ Twitter feed, “an excellent venue for env't journalists from West and South to learn from each other in making our society a sustainable one.”

Bruggers’ is a fairly standard response from many reporters today, particularly those in the freelance game. Many newsroom journalists are losing their jobs to attrition, cutbacks and corporate merger, while some of the ancillary op-ed writers, sports personalities and ‘bloggers’ have been kept around to keep a local slant on things – inexpensively at that – while newsrooms are being thoroughly decimated. In response, many longtime columnists have seen a burgeoning opportunity – in years past, their articles were significantly scrutinized, regularly cut, sliced, diced and edited down by experienced copy editors, managing editors and even fully engaged publishers who understood the difference between opinion pieces and balanced reports.

Today’s ‘beat’ freelancers have little editorial scrutiny in what they provide, as most copy ‘chiefs’ are too focused on keeping Section One copy flowing through rapidly shrinking paper real estate to worry about the Section Three sport reporters and Section Five environmental ‘beat’ reporters. Since this new breed of reporter has been given carte blanche ability to post their stories directly to personal blogs and Twitter accounts without submitting through the proper chain of command, “fair and balanced” has been effectively replaced in the 21st Century by “quick and cheap.” It’s ‘fast food nation’ for the rip and read set, as print professionals, once born, bred and trained in newsroom nerve centers have been removed from their post, while pure subject matter experts – the anointed ones – have been given the front door key to the newspaper by being allowed uber access to blog site, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The fishing representatives on the panel try to point out how notable scientific gaps in reporting through NOAA have left fishermen suffering not from science but by lack of science; they then explain to SEJ attendees that fish don’t exist upon every square inch of the ocean, and the 5% to 15% of oceans that some environmental groups would like to make off-limits to fishermen through creation of no access, no take marine reserves are actually the prime areas of oceans where fish congregate around productive structure and habitat.

Look, up in the sky….

“Fisheries lobbyist demonstrating he's completing unreasonable, opposes any restrictions on commercial fishing,” Tweets Brad Johnson, ThinkProgress Green Editor at the Center for American Progress.

“Big science crush on Daniel Pauly,” Westervelt Tweets.

“Me too,” gushes Jamie Jennings of Island Press.

Westervelt reports that Dr. Pauly is “Keeping it real with NOAA and fishermen on fish fight panel.”

Word to your mother.

Pew Environment Group’s Dave Bard says “fixing overfishing benefits everyone.” His former coworker from Pew now employed as Dr. Lubchenco handler and media spokesperson through NOAA Fisheries said of the Fish Fight panel, “a whole lot of agreeing going on. When it comes to catch shares, MPAs, science, etc, design matters most.”

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Read the complete story from Recreational Fishing Alliance