October 19, 2023 — Lately, the news has been filled with articles about various recreational fishing organizations arguing for stricter menhaden management measures. Usually, such measures take the form of restrictions on the big industrial harvesters—the so-called “reduction fleet”—whether such harvesters are purse seining Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay or Gulf menhaden off the shores of Louisiana.
It’s probably the perfect cause for such organizations to take up, as it allows them to assume the mantle of conservationists, while arguing for regulations that will only impact the commercial fleet and will not place any additional burden on the recreational fishery.
All things considered, advocating for a healthy menhaden population makes sense, as both Atlantic and Gulf menhaden play a very important role in coastal ecosystems.
At the same time, when recreational fishing groups begin to focus most of their conservation efforts on menhaden stocks, which are generally healthy, and ignore—or worse, oppose– needed management measures for marine finfish that are often sought by anglers, such groups’ commitment to conservation might well be questioned.
Unfortunately, not all fish stocks in the Gulf of Mexico are as healthy as menhaden, and this is where things get interesting, at least with respect to the recreational organizations’ supposed commitment to conservation.
Louisiana’s speckled trout stock has been in trouble for a long time.
Given the overfished state of the speckled trout stock one might logically expect Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana, which was such a strong advocate of additional regulations to protect the undoubtedly healthy Gulf menhaden stock, to demand that Louisiana take immediate, meaningful action to rebuild the speckled trout population. However, just the opposite occurred.