Saving Seafood

VIRGINIA: Bill to require study of menhaden in Chesapeake Bay scaled back

February 14, 2023 — A proposal to study the menhaden population in the Chesapeake Bay was scaled back in the House Monday.

An earlier version of the bill from Sen. Lynwood Lewis, D-Accomack, asked the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to study the ecology, fishery impacts and economic importance of menhaden within the Chesapeake Bay over a two-year period.

But on Monday a House Rules subcommittee voted to amend the bill to only require VIMS to provide details of a potential study’s scope, including methodology, possible stakeholders, costs and timeline.

“I think your issue is totally legitimate, but we need to look at the health of the Bay in toto,” said Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Spotsylvania, noting studies can take five to 10 years to complete.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

Proposed menhaden ban blocked in Virginia legislature

January 25, 2023 — Virginia state House Bill 1383, recently introduced by Delegate Tim Anderson of Virginia Beach to shut down Virginia’s menhaden reduction fishery in all of the state’s territorial ocean waters and inland Bay waters for two years, was unanimously tabled Jan. 18 by the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee.

The vote was 22-0 to table and “pass by indefinitely.”  The bill has a delayed effective date of Nov. 18, 2023 and a sunset date of Nov. 22, 2025.

“Normally when they vote PBI it means the bill dies forever unless someone brings it back next year,” said Montgomery Deihl, vice president of operations for Omega Protein in Reedville, Va.  “But the fact that it was a unanimous vote sends a strong signal that there’s no support for it.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

House committee kills bill banning menhaden reduction fishery in Chesapeake Bay

January 19, 2023 — Legislative attempts to put a two-year moratorium on the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and expand the time period during which state officials can change the fishery regulations died Wednesday in committee.

The House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee unanimously voted to kill a bill from Del. Tim Anderson, R-Virginia Beach, that would have shut down the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay for two years while the Virginia Marine Resources Commission conducted a study on its impacts.

Del. Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News, was absent from the meeting.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

Menhaden numbers strong, quota to rise

December 23, 2022 — An innovative new technique to assess the health of fish population that set lower triggers for catch quotas has found that menhaden — probably the most controversial catch in Virginia — are doing even better than expected.

As a result, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission increased its coastwide quota for menhaden by 20%, while leaving its cap on the Chesapeake Bay catch at 51,000 metric tons.

Sports fishermen have pressed for years for more limits on the menhaden catch, arguing that Reedville-based Omega Proteins fleet is taking too many fish, and leaving the population is too low to help the popular, if overfished, striped bass that feed on menhaden.

But the new ecological reference point technique for assessing the stock, which looks at how many fish are born and how many die, whether through fishing or being eaten by predators or dying from natural causes, specifically looks at how menhaden population is affecting striped bass and other species.

Menhaden mortality is below the “target” level determined with the new reference point technique – that is, whether through fishing or what would be needed to support healthy populations of the fish that eat menhaden, deaths are less than what is needed to maintain a sustainable population, and far below the “threshold which is when the there’s a danger of population collapse, the Atlantic States commission found.

Read the full article at the Richmond Times

VIRGINIA: Menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay won’t get new restrictions — for now

December 7, 2022 — The Virginia Marine Resources Commission on Tuesday chose not to place new limits on the menhaden harvest. The decision came after an hours-long hearing that included roughly three dozen impassioned public commenters.

In fact, board members didn’t vote on the regulations at all. Instead, they approved a non-binding motion to try and reach an agreement with the menhaden industry.

The decision is the latest in a decades-long, politically fraught fight over the fishery that’s unique to the commonwealth.

Virginia is the only place on the East Coast that still allows harvesting menhaden within state waters. Omega Protein catches the fish and processes them into oil or fishmeal at a facility in Reedville.

Sportfishers and environmental groups have been pushing for a total ban on the menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay, citing impacts to the food chain.

A petition supporting such a ban, circulated by the Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association this year, garnered 9,200 signatures.

The proposed regulations this week would not have gone nearly as far.

VMRC staff recommended prohibiting menhaden fishing within one nautical mile of shorelines in state and Virginia Beach waters, and for a half-mile on each side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Read the full article at WHRO

Menhaden Harvest Increase Approved As Anglers Petition To Close Bay Fishery

November 15, 2022 — East Coast fishery managers have approved increasing commercial harvests of Atlantic menhaden from Maine to Florida.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which regulates near-shore harvests of migratory fish, voted Wednesday to set a new ceiling on the coastwide menhaden catch of 233,550 metric tons, a 20 percent increase over the current quota.

The longstanding cap on harvest in the Chesapeake Bay remains unchanged, at 51,000 metric tons. But conservationists and sports anglers continue to worry about the impact to the Bay from large-scale fishing of menhaden near its mouth.

The commission’s action follows a recent population assessment that concluded menhaden are not being overfished and that harvests could be increased substantially without endangering the stock’s abundance.

Menhaden are a small, oily fish that are harvested chiefly for processing or “reducing” them into animal feed and human food supplements, but also for use as bait in crabbing, lobstering and catching other fish.

Read the full article at Chesapeake Bay Magazine 

States Schedule Public Hearings on Atlantic Menhaden Draft Addendum I

August 29, 2022 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic coastal states of Maine through North Carolina have scheduled hearings to gather public input on the Draft Addendum I to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan, which considers potential changes to current provisions for commercial allocations, the episodic event set aside (EESA) program, and the incidental catch and small-scale fisheries (IC/SSF) provision. Some hearings will be conducted via webinar and some hearings will be conducted in person. The details of those hearings follow.

Read the full release here

MAINE: State closes commercial menhaden fishery, drawing concerns from lobstermen

August 26, 2022 — Maine’s commercial menhaden season will close Sunday, which could have implications for Maine lobstermen who depend on the fish as an affordable source of bait.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission sets a series of quotas for the commercial menhaden fishery in the Northeast, including a small-scale harvest once various thresholds have been reached. Menhaden are also referred to as pogies.

“Maine lobstermen are extremely disappointed to see the pogy fishery close since the resource is healthy and there are still plenty of fish to catch in Maine,” Patrice McCarron, executive director for the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said in an email.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Opinion: Menhaden fishing is a lifeline for Virginia workers

July 7, 2022 — The following is an excerpt of an op-ed by Ken Pinkard, a 38-year, third-generation menhaden fisherman in Virginia’s Northern Neck region. It was published yesterday by the Daily Press and the Virginian-Pilot.

The Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association’s Mike Avery inaccurately claims that the Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden fishery is hurting striped bass (“Advocates call for limits of menhaden fishing in Virginia”). In reality, menhaden fishing is not only sustainable, it’s a critical economic engine for Virginia’s Northern Neck.

For decades, menhaden fishermen have worked in the Chesapeake Bay alongside crabbers, oystermen and other watermen. The menhaden fishery is currently the largest employer of minority and union workers in rural Northumberland County, and Virginia will not attract “good-paying” jobs by destroying it. The proposals Avery promotes would have a devastating impact on hardworking Virginians whose families rely on the fishery for their livelihoods.

The economy of the Northern Neck depends on Omega Protein and affiliated companies, just as Detroit depends on GM and Ford. Omega Protein and its fishing partners offer the highest blue-collar wages with the most generous benefits in the Northern Neck. These are union jobs. Every worker has a voice. Some 98% of our Reedville-based employees live in Virginia and 90% live in the Northern Neck.

Read the full op-ed with a subscription at the Daily Press