Saving Seafood

Regulators fail to decide on 2017 Atlantic menhaden harvest cap

August 4, 2016 — A new 2017 coastal catch limit for Atlantic menhaden proved a slippery target Wednesday as regional managers failed over and over to agree on a number.

In vote after vote by the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board meeting this week in Alexandria, representatives from Maine to Florida knocked down motions to raise the cap by as little as 1 percent to as much as 20 percent.

In the end, they could only agree to try again at their next meeting in October. The board is part of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

“They just kicked the can down the road,” said Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood Inc., a D.C.-based outreach and advocacy group that coordinates the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition and supports raising the catch limit.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

Science on Menhaden Continues to Support Increased Quota

August 3, 2016 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

Peter Baker, the Director of U.S. Oceans, Northeast for the Pew Charitable Trusts, argues in a recent article that fisheries managers should not raise the coastwide Atlantic menhaden harvest level (“10 Reasons to Maintain the Atlantic Menhaden Catch Limit in 2017”). But this recommendation goes against the last two years of menhaden science, which found in 2015 that the stock is healthy and sustainably managed, and this year finds that the quota can be significantly and sustainably raised.

Mr. Baker writes that “the [Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission] created the first coastwide catch limit in 2013 and set the allowable catch lower than the amount taken in preceding years in order to help menhaden rebuild.” In fact, the cuts were made to address overfishing that turned out never to have existed. The quota cut was instituted following a flawed stock assessment in 2010 that underestimated the health of the menhaden population, leading to an unnecessarily strict quota. Contrary to that assessment, menhaden was, and remains, a healthy and vibrant stock.

The numbers are not better now because cuts allowed the stock to rebuild, but rather because the earlier numbers were inaccurately low and have been corrected in the most recent assessment. The more recent, accurate ASMFC assessment, released in 2015, conclusively found that menhaden was “neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing” – in other words, the stock is sustainable and successfully managed.

Scientists with the ASMFC Menhaden Technical Committee recently gave regulators further evidence in favor of a quota increase. In a series of simulations – 9,000 to be precise – the Technical Committee analyzed what would happen if the menhaden quota was raised by various increments, up to a 40 percent increase. Their conclusion: there is a zero percent chance of overfishing occurring should the quota be increased.

Mr. Baker also questions the ecological effect a quota increase would have. Menhaden play a role in the food chain, with juvenile menhaden—menhaden from ages 0-1—serving as food for larger predators. Commercial fishermen do not fish for juvenile menhaden, a fact supported by the available data.

Additionally, Mr. Baker alleges that striped bass and weakfish populations are diminished because they have a lack of menhaden to consume. But striped bass and weakfish are susceptible to a wide variety of environmental factors, which regularly cause fluctuations in the population.

Lastly, Mr. Baker argues that the public supports the existing quota limitations based upon the results of online petitions with leading questions, funded and promoted by his organization.  The accuracy of Pew’s campaigns notwithstanding, commercial fisheries are not managed by popularity contests.

Over the past three years, commercial fisheries and related industries have suffered lost revenue and workers have lost jobs.  We now know that the unnecessarily low quotas were based on flawed data.

It is time to set quotas based on solid data and scientific review, not by demands made in well-funded media campaigns from the Pew Charitable Trusts and other special interest groups.

About the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of over 30 businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Commission could increase menhaden catch

August 2, 2016 — New Jersey commercial bait fishermen want to see the coastwide catch of menhaden increased nearly 80,000 metric tons.

“We’re focused on the science. If the science supports an increase, we want to take it,” said Jeff Kaelin from Lunds Fisheries, a commercial fishing operation in Cape May.

The amount of menhaden fishermen will be able to take from the water next year will be decided Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia, when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meets.

The Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee has given the ASMFC options that would allow the catch to increase by as much as 10,000 to 80,000 metric tons.

Only one option is to keep the status quo at 187,880 metric tons. There is no option to reduce the catch.

Kaelin said Jersey purse seiners have been shut out of the fishery since July 4, after fishermen reached their allocation for this year. He said if they had more quota, they could be selling bait to New England lobstermen who are clamoring for bait.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

AL DUDLEY: Stock Assessments Overwhelmingly Support Raising Atlantic Menhaden Quotas

August 2, 2016 — SEAFOOD NEWS — This week, fisheries managers have the chance to expand opportunities for fishermen as they consider a scientifically supported increase in the coastwide menhaden quota. Although generally not consumed in their own right, menhaden are the bait of choice for both commercial and recreational fishermen and are prominent producers of the Omega-3 nutrients often used in health supplements.

In recent years, commercial fishing of menhaden has been needlessly restricted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the regulatory body charged with managing the species and maintaining the health of the stock. In 2012, based on the results of a stock assessment that was later found to have inaccurately underestimated the strength of the menhaden population, the ASMFC cut the annual menhaden harvest by a deeply felt 20 percent.

This year, as the ASMFC discusses potentially raising the quota, the science clearly and without a doubt demonstrates the menhaden stock is healthy, vibrant, and not in any conceivable danger of becoming overfished.

In an analysis earlier this summer produced by the ASMFC’s Menhaden Technical Committee, scientists analyzed the potential results of an increase in the menhaden quota for the 2017 fishing season. The Committee experimented with nine different potential increases, from simply maintaining the menhaden quota at its current level to increasing it by 40 percent. For each increase, the Committee ran 1,000 separate simulations, to ensure the data were accurate and all variables possible were accounted for. After this thorough and exhaustive study, the Committee concluded that increasing the menhaden quota for the 2017 fishing season poses a zero percent chance of resulting in overfishing.

These results build upon the positive findings of the 2015 menhaden assessment, which overturned the inaccurate results of the previous assessment when it found the stock to be sustainably managed, neither overfished nor subject to overfishing.

The Committee was comprised of 21 different scientists, representing 13 different states up and down the Eastern Seaboard. In addition, the Committee had representatives from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which has been in favor of limiting menhaden fishing in the past. That such a diverse wealth of scientists and regulators agreed raising the quota would have virtually no likelihood of overfishing is testament to the exhaustive and rigorous nature of their efforts.

When the ASMFC meets this week, they intend to discuss the motion for a raise in the annual menhaden quota. Now it is time for them to either fish or to cut bait. The evidence does not lie – menhaden are not at risk of overfishing with a raised quota.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Latest Scientific Analysis Supports Increased Atlantic Menhaden Quota

Aug 1, 2016 – The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

WASHINGTON (MFC) – An analysis conducted by scientists at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) finds that the coastwide Atlantic menhaden quota can be substantially raised without impacting the sustainability of the species.

In a memo by the ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee on June 22, the Committee described projections it ran using nine different potential quota levels for the 2017 fishing season. These projections found a 0 percent chance of overfishing menhaden in 2017, even when menhaden quota was increased by up to 40 percent. Projections were run 1,000 times for each potential quota level to ensure that a full range of potential scenarios were accounted for in the estimates.

The Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee is composed of 21 scientists from 13 states along the U.S. Atlantic coast and the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Committee’s projections were short-term (2014-2017) to eliminate uncertainty inherent in longer-term projections.

The ASMFC will hold its summer meeting August 2-4 in Alexandria, Va., where it will discuss, among other topics, Atlantic menhaden, and the possibility of raising its quota for 2017.

Atlantic menhaden catch totaled 171,900 mt tons in 2014. The ASMFC set menhaden quota at 187,800 mt for 2015 and 2016.

In 2015, the ASMFC’s Atlantic menhaden stock assessment found that the menhaden stock was healthy and sustainably managed, with the species neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. It also found that fishing mortality is at an all-time low, and that menhaden fecundity (egg production) has been strong in recent years. Based on these findings, the ASMFC raised the menhaden quota by 10 percent last year.

Menhaden are used to produce fishmeal, fish oil, and fish solubles due to their high concentration of healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. They are also prized for their use as bait in other fisheries.

About the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition

The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of over 30 businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

View the release here

ASMFC 2016 Summer Meeting Supplemental Material Now Available

July 27, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2016 Summer Meeting have been posted here for the following Boards/Committees (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information).

Executive Committee – Memo on Plan Development Team Member; ACCSP Governance (Transition Document, Draft MOU, Staff Flowchart)

South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – Cobia Management White Paper; FMP Reviews for Atlantic Croaker and Red Drum

Tautog Management Board – 2016 Tautog Regional Stock Assessments for Long Island Sound and New Jersey/New York Bight; Regional Assessment Desk Review; Tagging Trial Preliminary Results

Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Revised Draft Agenda and Meeting Overview; Memo on Ecobait Trials; Draft Recommendations for ARM Framework Review; Draft Biomedical Exceedance Recommendations;

Coastal Sharks Management Board – FMP Review; Advisory Panel Nomination and Request for Review of New Membership

Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Advisory Panel Report on Draft Addendum I; Draft Public Information Document for Amendment 3; Public Comment

ACCSP Executive Committee – ACCSP Governance (Transition Document, Draft MOU, Staff Flowchart)

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – FMP Review

ISFMP Policy Board – Cobia Management White Paper; Risk and Uncertainty Policy Workgroup Memo; Habitat Committee Memo on Seismic Testing; MAFMC Correspondence to BOEM; SCWF Correspondence to SAFMC

ACCSP Coordinating Council – ACCSP Governance (Transition Document, Draft MOU, Staff Flowchart)

American Eel Management Board – New York Yellow Eel Allocation Proposal

American Lobster Management Board – American Lobster Technical Committee Memo on the Effect of Gauge Changes on Exploitation, SSB, Reference Abundance, and Catch; GARFO letter to ASMFC on the Southern New England Stock of American Lobster; American Lobster Plan Review Team & Advisory Panel Comments on Maine Conservation Equivalency Proposal

For ease of access, supplemental meeting materials have been combined into one PDF here.

As a reminder, Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 10:15 a.m. on August 2nd and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 4:00 p.m.) on Thursday August  4th. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board/section deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast, the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. Please go here to register.

Whales popping up in Long Island Sound for second year

July 26, 2016 — NORWALK, Conn. — For the second year in a row, whales have been spotted in the Long Island Sound, with sightings all the way in near Fairfield County. But why?

According to Joe Schnierlein, with the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, “They’re here for food. This is a smorgasbord for them.”

He’s referring to a fish called menhaden, also known as buffers.

“Right now, the entire western end of the Sound is loaded with them,” Schnierlein explained.

Read and watch the full story at FOX 61

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission eyes menhaden

July 6, 2016 — DOVER, Del. — Delaware officials are hosting an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission public hearing on proposed changes to the interstate management plan for Atlantic Menhaden.

Wednesday evening’s hearing in Dover involves a proposal to allow two licensed commercial fishermen to harvest up to 12,000 pounds of menhaden bycatch when working from the same vessel and fishing with stationary, multi-species gear, limited to one vessel trip per day.

Currently, the bycatch limit is 6,000 pounds per vessel per day.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Washington Times

Economics professor awarded grant for socioeconomic study of Atlantic menhaden

July 5, 2016 — BOONE, NC — Dr. John Whitehead, professor and chair of Appalachian State University’s Department of Economics, has been awarded $95,303 by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to conduct a socioeconomic study of Atlantic menhaden commercial fisheries.

Whitehead will co-lead the project with Dr. Jane Harrison from North Carolina Sea Grant. The project is based on case studies within the industry intended to characterize the Atlantic menhaden commercial fisheries, including bait and reduction sectors and the fishing communities they support.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic menhaden constitute the largest landings by volume along the Atlantic Coast – that is, the amount of fish harvested from the sea and brought to the land. Menhaden rank second in the United States for landings behind only pollock on the west coast of Alaska.

“Menhaden stock is healthier than ever,” Whitehead said, “and the ASMFC is wrestling with how to allocate quotas across the Atlantic U.S.”

Read the full story at Appalachian State University

ASMFC April/May 2016 Issue of Fisheries Focus Now Available

June 2, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Inside This Issue

ASMFC Presents Annual Awards of Excellence page 1

Upcoming Meetings page 2

From the Executive Director’s Desk page 3

Gulf of Maine Lobster Warrants Close Monitoring 

Species Profile page 4

Coastal Sharks

Proposed Management Actions page 6

Atlantic Menhaden

Coastal Sharks

Fishery Management Actions page 7

Jonah Crab

Atlantic Menhaden

ASMFC Urges Transparency and Public Input in Proposed New England Offshore and Canyons Seamounts Monument Decision-making page 9

In Memoriam page 9

Science Highlight page 10

River Herring Data Standardization Workshop

ACCSP Announces 2016 Funding Awards page 11

ASMFC Comings & Goings page 15

New Species Coordinator Assignments page 16

On the Legislative Front page 16

Read the full newsletter at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

Read past issues of Fisheries Focus