December 21, 2012 — The following is an excerpt from the opinion piece "The Bottom Line: Big Turnout for Little Menhaden" (12/6) by Lee Crockett posted on National Geographic:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has seen a lot in its 70-year history but nothing quite like this. More than 128,000 people flooded the commission’s inboxes with postcards and emails last month, a new record for public comment. Scientists, small business owners, nature lovers, and anglers sent letters and spoke out at public hearings. And it was all about a fish that almost no one ever eats—Atlantic menhaden.
I’ve written about menhaden before; small, bony, and oily, it isn’t much of a meal for humans. But it’s a favorite food for ocean wildlife including striped bass and bluefish, weakfish and whales, tuna and ospreys. Menhaden form a critical part of the ocean food web and that makes overfishing them a serious threat.
Read the full story at National Geographic
Analysis: In a recent National Geographic opinion piece (“The Bottom Line: Big Turnout for Little Menhaden”, 12/6), Pew Environment Group’s Lee Crockett continues his organization’s misleading Atlantic menhaden campaign by repeating several claims that could be considered “Pew-generated”.
The article includes the widely circulated Pew Environment claim that the menhaden population, “has plunged 90 percent to historically low levels.” Here, Mr. Crockett has disingenuously chosen a specific year of record highs to begin his “statistic”, creating a fictional, pessimistic decline, while ignoring substantial periods of the fishery’s history which demonstrate the natural fluctuation of the population. In fact, current menhaden biomass levels are similar to those seen in the 1960s, which were followed by record high population estimates in the 1970s and 1980s. A recent analysis in a Politifact investigation published by the Providence Journal ("Pew Environment Group says the Atlantic menhaden population has declined by 90 percent in recent years",12/11), Politifact Rhode Island, an independent journalistic source, found Pew’s assertion to be “mostly false” because of their selective representation of the menhaden’s history.
Mr. Crockett cites a “recent study of ‘forage fish’ such as menhaden” to support his argument that a 50 percent reduction in menhaden harvest is necessary. Mr. Crockett doesn’t tell readers that the study’s sponsor, the Lenfest Ocean Program, is managed by Pew.
Mr. Crockett cites “a letter signed by 94 leading scientists” to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) saying current measures are inadequate. Mr. Crockett doesn’t tell readers that at least 31 of the signers are affiliated with, or are part of organizations receiving funding from Pew Environment. Few of the signers have direct experience working on menhaden issues. One of them is an English professor, not a scientist.
Mr. Crockett states that “More than 128,000 people flooded the commission’s inboxes…for public comment.” What he doesn’t say is that response was generated by Pew-organized online campaigns – in partnership with Greenpeace and other groups – using alarmist and sensationalized headlines that selectively presented facts. The validity of the number of comments has also been called into question.
In last week’s ASMFC menhaden board meeting, New York Commissioner Pat Augustine York challenged some of the public comment that was received from large special interest groups like Mr. Crockett’s Pew Environment. Mr. Augustine described how he became suspicious of the amount of public comment coming in from these groups and began to call individuals who had signed petitions distributed by these organizations. To his dismay, the first seven people in a row he called, were not only unaware their name was included on a circulated letter, but also had no idea what a menhaden was.
In Mr. Crockett’s op-ed, all arguments for severe regulation lead back to Pew-managed, Pew-organized, or Pew-funded efforts. In the lobbying and public relations world this type of manufactured grassroots support is known as “astroturf”.