Anyone concerned with the health of Chesapeake Bay, or indeed the health of the fishery of the entire East Coast, needs to pay attention to the current state of menhaden.
Small, bony and oily, menhaden (bunker) are usually not consumed by humans – at least directly. But menhaden are the forage base for striped bass, bluefish, cod, sea trout, bonito, tuna, haddock, halibut, mackerel, swordfish, king mackerel, summer flounder and numerous other predator species to the point that renowned 19th-century ichthyologist G. Brown Goode stated that people eating Atlantic saltwater fish consume "nothing but menhaden." (Since menhaden are used to bait crab and lobster pots and "reduced" (boiled, dried and ground) menhaden are used for fertilizer, as feed for chicken, pigs and cattle and as fish oil supplements, they are a significant factor in nearly any human diet.)
A 2001 article in "Discover" magazine by H. Bruce Franklin dubbed menhaden "The Most Important Fish in the Sea," the title of the widely-quoted article and subsequent book, and a label that has caught on among both the scientific and lay communities.
Franklin also proclaims that vast schools of filter-feeding menhaden filter the water, promoting growth of healthful subaquatic grasses and limiting the spread of algae blooms.
Menhaden, are one of 23 species managed by The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), a deliberative body of 15 Atlantic coast states formed in 1942 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1950 with the mission "To promote the better utilization of the fisheries, marine, shell, and anadromous of the Atlantic seaboard by the development of a joint program for the promotion and protection of such fisheries, and by the prevention of physical waste of the fisheries from any cause."
In 2006 AFMFC established a Chesapeake Bay cap for the menhaden reduction fishery. After years of unsuccessful attempts to consider further limits, ASMFC voted on August 2 to publish for public comment a range of options for rebuilding menhaden stocks. Draft Addendum V to the Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Management Plan, raises the overfishing threshold while proposing new rebuilding targets. The public has an opportunity until November 2 to comment at hearings and/or through written comments. The ASMFC will formally adopt the new population targets and fishing limits in November, after which it will develop appropriate management measures, e.g., quotas and allocations, for review and adoption in early 2012.
Read the full article at the Carroll County Times.
Analysis: The article correctly notes several facts about menhaden that are often missing in the discussion of the menhaden fishery: factors other than fishing may play a role in the size of the menhaden population, and menhaden's previously understood role as a filter feeder is likely overrated. However, it is also important to note when discussing future regulations that the ASMFC has determined that, at current levels of fishing, the menhaden population is not currently overfished. It's also important to note the economic significance of the menhaden fishery to the region. Reedville is the third largest port in the US based on volume of landing, a figure attributable almost solely to the reduction fishery.