May 16, 2014 — In late 2012, Virginia and other Atlantic states adopted the first coast-wide catch limit for menhaden in a historic effort to save the "most important fish in the sea" from years of overfishing.
Now a year into the cap, a national environmental group is touting its success, while the only menhaden fishery left on the Atlantic is complaining that, although Virginia is meeting its harvest obligations, other states are unfairly ignoring theirs.
Jeff Young at The Pew Charitable Trusts says new ASMFC figures show a 25 percent drop in overall catch, which he calls "good environmental news" that leaves "about 300 million more menhaden swimming in the Atlantic."
"And more good news: The sky did not fall," Young said in a release. "Last year the company that's most dependent on the menhaden catch made record profits. Apparently, environmental progress does not have to mean economic pain."
His reference was to Omega Protein Inc., which operates the only menhaden rendering plant left on the East Coast. In March, Omega announced a record gross profit of $82.8 million at the end of 2013, compared to $42.1 million for the same period the year before.
On its website, the company credits that increase primarily to higher sales prices for its fish meal and fish oil, which it produces by grinding and boiling down the oily, bony menhaden at its Reedville plant.
Menhaden are largely inedible for humans, but are vital as a food source for blue crabs, predator fish and waterfowl, as a bait fish and as a filter-feeder to help clean up waterways such as the Chesapeake Bay.
But Omega spokesman Ben Landry complains that even as Virginia abided by its total allowable catch limit last year, other states "far exceeded" theirs. In an opinion piece that appeared Wednesday on the industry site Seafoodnews.com, Landry singled out New York, Maryland, Delaware, the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, Florida and Rhode Island.
Read the full story at the Newport News Daily Press