Over the summer this column has highlighted the menhaden crisis several times. Today we are turning the column over to Lou Tabory, one of the country's most expert fishermen, a pioneer of saltwater fly fishing, and a longtime advocate for improved fishery management.
A Ridgefield resident, he is the author of four books, hundreds of feature articles in national magazines and an instructor at many fly fishing schools and seminars over the past 40-plus years.
Here is Lou's take on the crisis:
I am writing today to call attention to the critical importance of upcoming public hearings on menhaden that will be held in our area on Wednesday in Bridgeport, on Oct. 5 in New Haven and on Oct. 12 in Old Lyme.
The decisions that will be made based on public input at these hearings will have a direct impact on the quality of life not only for anglers but also in the entire community at large. Menhaden have a direct economic and ecological impact on water quality, fisheries and wildlife in Long Island Sound and surrounding waters.
I have fished for striped bass for nearly 60 years. It's not only a favorite sport, it's become my means of income. I have seen the striper population come and go and now it seems to be taking a spiraling plunge downward. The lack of a very important food for many marine predators, menhaden, was a factor in the last collapse along with overharvesting. And now it seems to be happening again.
My first encounter with menhaden was at an early age — I was just a kid finding a big smelly, oily bait fish flapping on the beach. It was called a bunker, and back then this occurrence was common. Menhaden were everywhere. This fish had no real significance to me as a youngster. I wanted stripers and weakfish and only later would I learn that these bait fish provide food for many game fish and help to improve water quality.
In less than 60 years, much has changed. Menhaden, the most common and dominant bait fish along the eastern seaboard, and weakfish have nearly vanished from our waters, both victims of overharvesting by commercial interests.
Menhaden provide the most important food source for stripers and other game fish because they are high in Omega-3 fatty acids. This fatty diet helps build up needed body fat in game fish. A good fat build-up in fish means better spawning production.
In the last 20 years, I have seen the weight of stripers drop significantly. In the '70s, a 36-inch striper weighed about 20 pounds; now, most fish that length might weigh 16 to 17 pounds. The fish are thinner and less hardy. Without sufficient storage of body fat, female stripers will absorb their eggs to survive winter hibernation, thus reducing or even eliminating reproduction in the spring.
Menhaden not only provide a food source for many game fish, they help feed seagulls, terns and even birds of prey like osprey. They are literally swimming schools of water filters. An adult bunker can filter several gallons of water a minute; multiply that much clean water by the half a billon menhaden that are removed from the sea each year and reduced to oil. In the Chesapeake, the striper's main spawning area, stripers rely on menhaden to help filter nitrogen and phosphorus from the water that would create dead zones if not removed.
But menhaden also improve water quality in Long Island Sound and Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. Many times, they will move into harbors and small bays performing their magic, filtering as they swim.
Read the full article at Greenwich Time.
Analysis: The article overstates the centrality of menhaden to striped bass diet. While striped bass do feed on menhaden when available, they also feed on many other species and are not completely dependent on menhaden. Several factors, such as the prevalence and location of other feed species, also influences what bass eat. A recent survey by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science found that menhaden's contributions to striped bass diets can be as little as 9.6%.
Menhaden's role as filter feeders are also in question. A recent study concluded that menhaden have little to no impact on water quality, and that their ability as filter feeders are overstated.
Finally, the article is incorrect in stating that menhaden are overfished. While it is correct in asserting that the fishery had been overfished in the past, overfishing has only occured once in the last ten years, and the ASMFC concluded in its last stock assessment that menhaden were not overfished.