February 23, 2015 — Just two years after fishery managers slashed menhaden harvests to prevent overfishing, a new review of the menhaden stock has concluded that the population of the small, oily fish has actually been in good shape in recent years, and hasn’t been overfished in decades.
This upbeat assessment, which was formally adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Feb. 3, has commercial fishermen hoping that the commission will grant them higher catch limits at its May meeting.
It presents a strikingly different picture of the menhaden stock than what was presented in the 2012 assessment, which had concluded that menhaden were suffering from overfishing, and abundance was near a historic low. Based on that information, the commission, which regulates catches along the East Coast, in December 2012 imposed a 20 percent coastwide harvest reduction.
The most recent assessment now paints an entirely different picture of the stock. It found that the coastwide menhaden biomass – an estimate of the weight of the entire population – was near or above the long-term average during much of the past decade. And, it found no evidence of overfishing since the 1950s.
Fishing industry representatives said the new assessment validates their objections to the 2012 cuts, and said it should boost the prospect for increased catch limits. The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition, an industry group, said "this new assessment reveals that the previous 2012 assessment was far too pessimistic and the subsequent cuts perhaps unnecessary."
Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Journal