April 25, 2013 — The following is an excerpt from a Chesapeake Bay Program story, "Fisheries commission limits menhaden harvest," originally published December 17, 2012.
The harvest of menhaden along the Atlantic coast will be cut by 20 percent, following a controversial decision made by the fifteen-state board that regulates near-shore fishing.
Thirteen regulators voted in favor of the harvest reduction in a heated meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), held last week in a Baltimore hotel ballroom crowded with hundreds of activists clad in “Fight for Menhaden” buttons and shirts.
Often called “the most important fish in the sea,” menhaden are filter feeders that play an important role in clean water and form a critical link in the Chesapeake Bay food chain. The ASMFC received thousands of comments from individuals and organizations in support of conserving the likely-overfished species whose abundance is at an all-time low.
Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Program
Analysis: As a recipient of federal, state, and municipal funds, The Chesapeake Bay Program’s efforts should reflect a commitment to fairness, accuracy, and truth. But the Program’s coverage of issues related to menhaden perpetuates inaccurate and one-sided claims that only serve to hamper public discourse regarding this historic and economically vital industry.
For example, their Bay Blog post on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) December 2012 meeting (“Fisheries Commission limits menhaden harvest,” 12/17/12) stated that menhaden “are filter feeders that play an important role in clean water and form a critical link in the Chesapeake Bay food chain.” However, much if not all of the available scientific evidence indicates that menhaden do not play a significant role in improving water quality. This is information that the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program should be well aware of.
Most accounts of the ecological role of menhaden assume that they remove phytoplankton from the water, preventing the plant-like organism from accumulating in excessive numbers and causing algal blooms and other environmental problems. But this is not true for most of the species. One of the most recent studies on the issue, a 2010 report by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, found that only juvenile menhaden filter phytoplankton. Adult menhaden, in contrast, consume little phytoplankton, meaning that their filtering has a negligible impact on overall water quality. Importantly, the fishery only targets these adult menhaden, meaning it does not affect any environmental benefit the species may provide.
Menhaden are also referenced as “likely overfished.” While this was a claim repeated by many, including several ASMFC Commissioners at their December meeting, the ASMFC’s Menhaden Technical Committee determined in February that there is insufficient evidence to classify the species as overfished. The Commission found its own 2012 stock assessment to be unreliable, and so, the Committee will not be able to determine the status of menhaden until a new assessment is conducted in 2014.
The post also describes menhaden as “the most important fish in the sea.” While often repeated, the phrase is an editorial, rather than a scientific designation. It derives from the title of a 2007 book, The Most Important Fish in the Sea, by Rutgers University English professor H. Bruce Franklin. No evidence exists to justify giving menhaden, or any other fish, the title of “most important.”
Finally, while their post describes those who signed petitions to the ASMFC in support of reducing the menhaden harvest, it fails to mention the nearly 1500 people who submitted comments supporting the menhaden fishery and opposing cuts that are as economically damaging as they are ecologically unnecessary. This group represents a wide range of people with a direct link to the fishery: fishermen, citizens of Reedville, and many others who will be negatively affected by new regulations. Their viewpoint was supported by the United Food and Commercial Workers local 400, the union representing menhaden fishermen, as well as the Maryland State Conference of the NAACP.