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.