April 6, 2015 — The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is touting recent media reports of multiple sightings by fishermen of vast schools of menhaden from Florida to the Gulf of Maine.
"They have been spotted coast-wide in numbers and in places that are far beyond the mid-Atlantic-based menhaden fishery," the group said Wednesday. "This is consistent with what fishermen have been saying for years."
In February, a regional fisheries commission reversed course and announced Atlantic menhaden were neither being overfished nor experiencing overfishing — an important finding for Virginia, which has the only menhaden rendering plant left on the East Coast.
Next month, the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board will meet in Northern Virginia to decide if that new benchmark assessment is convincing enough to lift a controversial 20 percent coast-wide reduction in the commercial fishery imposed in 2013.
As that May 5 meeting approaches, both sides in the long-running dispute are staking out their positions.
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is touting recent media reports of multiple sightings by fishermen of vast schools of menhaden from Florida to the Gulf of Maine.
"They have been spotted coast-wide in numbers and in places that are far beyond the mid-Atlantic-based menhaden fishery," the group said Wednesday. "This is consistent with what fishermen have been saying for years."
The coalition is comprised of menhaden fishermen and associated businesses and industries.