A panel studying menhaden management in Virginia will meet Sept. 23 in Fredericksburg.
The panel, chaired by state Sens. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, and Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland, met earlier this summer in Newport News. Members want to know how many menhaden live in the Chesapeake Bay and if the population is overfished. Some suggested funding a study to the tune of $500,000 annually to complete the task.
The Fredericksburg meeting should be interesting because members will hear from Rob Latour and Bill Goldsborough. The two have respected, but opposing, points of view.
Latour is a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who chairs the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's menhaden technical committee. The coast wide population of menhaden is 20-40 billion, he said, more than enough to sustain Virginia's fishery.
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