LEWES, Del. (AP) — A former Delaware natural resources secretary is urging residents to attend a hearing on proposed menhaden harvest changes.
Commercially important species such as striped bass and tuna feed on menhaden, which are at 10 percent of their former spawning capacity. A corporate fleet based in Reedville, Va., accounts for 80 percent of the remaining harvest, which is processed into fish oil, animal feed and other products.
John Hughes says the economic benefit Delaware receives from menhaden will be jeopardized if the tiny fish continue to decline and he supports harvest cuts to significantly increase spawning. Hughes made the comments in an editorial in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 26 at DNREC offices in Lewes.
Read the story at the Houston Chronicle.
Analysis: The article is deeply misleading when it claims that menhaden are "at 10 percent of their former spawning capacity." This refers to the Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is not an actual count of fish or a measure of their "former spawing capacity." Rather, it is a level of spawning potential based on a theoretical unfished population. Currently, that level is around 10% in the menhaden fishery. However, this is not a new or troubling development; the fishery has rarely exceeded 10% MSP in the 55 years the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has been monitoring it, and their most recent stock assessment concluded that at the current MSP the menhaden population is not overfished.