July 24, 2017 — The following is excerpted from an op-ed by Ben Landry, Director of Public Affairs for Omega Protein, and was published Friday by The Providence Journal:
In his July 7 column (“Opinions on changes to menhaden quota are divided”), Capt. Dave Monti makes multiple inaccurate claims about the biology and management of menhaden — claims that someone who advises menhaden regulators at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission should know do not conform to the latest menhaden science.
Mr. Monti mischaracterizes the health of the Atlantic menhaden stock when he says it is “on the rebound, due to the first-ever catch quota put into place in 2012.” As an ASMFC advisor, Mr. Monti should know that the 2012 catch quota was based on a stock assessment, later determined to be faulty, that showed menhaden was being overfished. That later-disproven science led the commission to unnecessarily slash menhaden catch rates by 20 percent, hurting those who make their living in the fishery.
In 2015, following extensive improvements to its menhaden stock assessment model, the ASMFC found that menhaden was not overfished, not experiencing overfishing, and has actually not been overfished in decades. The science doesn’t show the Atlantic menhaden stock to be “on the rebound,” it shows it has had a clean bill of health all along.
Despite these developments, the current quota remains below 2012 levels. This is the result of politics, not science, and makes little sense, as the ASMFC itself found that the previous cuts were unwarranted.