Saving Seafood

ONE ANGLER’S VOYAGE: THERE ARE NO “MOST IMPORTANT” FISH IN THE SEA

August 4, 2025 — Seventeen years ago, author H. Bruce Franklin published a book.  It was titled The Most Important Fish in the Sea:  Menhaden and America, and it caught the public’s attention.  A blurb advertising the book declares, in part, that

“…Today, one company—Omega Protein—has a monopoly on the menhaden ‘reduction industry.’  Every year, it sweeps billions of fish from the sea, grinds them up, and turns them into animal feed, fertilizer, and oil used in everything from linoleum to health food supplements.

“The massive harvest wouldn’t be such a problem if menhaden were only good for making lipstick and soap.  But they are crucial to the diet of bigger fish and they filter the waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, playing an essential dual role in marine ecology perhaps unmatched anywhere on the planet.  As their numbers have plummeted, fish and birds dependent on them have been decimated, toxic algae have begun to choke our bays and seas.  In Franklin’s vibrant prose, the decline of a once ubiquitous fish becomes an adventure story, an exploration of the U.S. political economy, a groundbreaking history of America’s emerging ecological consciousness, and an inspiring vision of a growing alliance between environmentalists and recreational anglers.”

The book was very well written.  A lot of people read it, and a lot of people believed everything that Franklin wrote, even though he had no scientific background at all.  His academic degree was in English, which he first taught as an assistant professor, later associate professor, at Stanford University.  He was also something of a radical, who helped to set up a European network of deserters from the U.S. military during the Viet Nam war, founded a group that later became the Revolutionary Communist Party, and was ultimately fired from Stamford after inciting students to shut down the school’s computer facility and encouraging them to “resist police efforts.”

Both his lack of scientific training and his radical background arguably colored his book which, in my view, contained a few factual errors and definitely had anti-corporate undertones.  But those flaws seem to have only made some of his readers more fervent, and helped to create what I might deem “The Cult of the Menhaden,” a group of people who truly believe that menhaden really are “the most important fish in the sea,” and who are inclined to blame any decline in fish, bird, or marine mammal populations on a menhaden shortage, and then blame such alleged shortage in the menhaden reduction fishery, even though the last stock assessment, released three years ago, found that the Atlantic menhaden population is above the target reference point, and an October 2024 assessment revealed that the Gulf menhaden stock was also doing well.

Read the full article by Charles Witek

Prominent recreational fishing writer calls out sport fishing groups for their obsession with sustainable menhaden fisheries

November 13, 2023 – Charles Witek, a fisheries consultant, recreational fisherman, and writer of the “One Angler’s Voyage” blog, has recently called out sportfishing groups like the Coastal Conservation Association and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership for their “aggressive effort to place new restrictions” on commercial menhaden fisheries at the expense of needed management measures for recreational species.

In an October 8 post focused on the Gulf of Mexico, “Menhaden advocacy: A low-cost cause for recreational fishing organizations,” Mr. Witek called menhaden “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.”

Menhaden fishermen at work

But as Mr. Witek pointed out, the Gulf menhaden population is “in good shape.” The most recent benchmark stock assessment completed by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2018 found that menhaden were neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. The following year, the fishery was certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. An updated stock assessment conducted in 2021 showed the stock remains healthy. Meanwhile, other species in the Gulf — including speckled trout targeted by the recreational sector — are not so healthy.

“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,” Mr. Witek wrote. “However, just the opposite occurred.”

“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,” he wrote.

In an October 26 post, “Conserving striped bass: Don’t be misled by menhaden,” Mr. Witek noted a similar dynamic playing out on the Atlantic coast, but replacing speckled trout with striped bass.

“Let’s get two things straight from the start: Striped bass are having some serious problems, while Atlantic menhaden are doing just fine,” Mr. Witek wrote.

The latest striped bass stock assessment by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission shows the stock is overfished; Maryland has experienced spawning failure for the past five years; Virginia has experienced spawning failure for the past three years. Meanwhile, Atlantic menhaden are neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing; the fishery is certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council; and managers have adopted ecological reference points, making it the first East Coast fishery to account for not just the health of the individual species, but also its role in the ecosystem.

“It’s completely clear, from a scientific perspective, that the current lack of striped bass has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of menhaden,” Mr. Witek wrote.

That hasn’t stopped recreational anglers like Phil Zalesak, president of the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization, from blaming the commercial menhaden fishery for the problems in the recreational sector. This can have negative impacts for striped bass conservation, according to Mr. Witek.

“Where Mr. Zalesak’s comments [at a recent ASMFC meeting] really went astray was when he noted that Maryland’s striped bass harvest had decreased by 72 percent since 2016, then alleged that such decrease was due to a lack of menhaden, and not overfishing,” Mr. Witek wrote. “That comment, more than any other that he made, exposed the danger of focusing on menhaden, rather than on striped bass biology, for if managers took that allegation at face value, it would mean that to rebuild the striped bass stock, their first concern should be rebuilding the menhaden stock, and not addressing striped bass fishing mortality. Such course could only lead to more problems for the bass population.”

It is important for fishery managers to stay focused on real conservation measures needed to rebuild the striped bass population and not get distracted by “unsupported allegations of a menhaden shortage,” Mr. Witek wrote.

“For make no mistake: There are people who are all too willing to stall the striped bass’ recovery, and to put the bass’ future in peril, in order to increase their short-term gains from the fishery.”

The ASMFC’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board “must hear our desire to reduce striped bass fishing mortality…It must hear of our concerns with spawning failure in the Chesapeake Bay…But the Board shouldn’t have to hear about menhaden at all,” Mr. Witek concluded.

Mr. Witek is an attorney who has held a seat on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, served as president of the New York State Outdoor Writers’ Association, and represents New York on various fishery management bodies.

Mako Shark Populations Take Half-Century to Recover from Overfishing and Bycatch Kills

January 27, 2020 — An essay in the January newsletter of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association claimed that populations of shortfin mako sharks — a popular sport fish and a tasty offering on local menus — are “in crisis,” with fewer and smaller mako sharks being caught compared to 25 years ago.

The piece — on pages 8, 31, and 32 in the association’s newsletter — written by Long Island, N.Y., attorney Charles Witek, a recreational fisherman who identifies himself as a consultant on fisheries management issues, also criticizes the measures adopted to reduce shark mortality and the long timeline for rebuilding the population.

“Even if such reductions could be achieved, it will take about 50 years to return the shortfin mako stock to something resembling a healthy level of abundance,” Witek wrote. “Which, in turn, means that I and probably most of the people reading this article, will never see a healthy mako population in our lifetimes.”

Although shark biologists in southern New England disagree that makos are “in crisis,” those surveyed agree that the species is being overfished and that, even if targeted fishing for the species around the world was eliminated entirely, it would likely take at least several decades for the species to recover to healthy levels.

Read the full story at EcoRI

CAP Report: Vulnerable Lobster and Oyster in New England, More ‘Funny Fish’ in Mid-Atlantic

September 17, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Center for American Progress released a new report earlier this week called “Warming Seas Falling Fortunes.” In it, fishermen on the front lines of climate change describe the impact of warming oceans on their jobs and communities.

In a five-part series, SeafoodNews is summarizing the report. Today we look at the Mid-Atlantic and New England. On Monday, we cover the West Coast and on Tuesday, the Alaska fishing industry.

Along the Mid-Atlantic coast, commercial and recreational fishing are important economic drivers. In 2015, the fishing industries in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia supported over 117,000 jobs and generated $15.6 billion in sales. Yet, fishing in all three states is under threat as researchers see marine species shifting an average of 0.7 of a degree of latitude, or roughly 50 miles, north and 15 meters deeper in the water.

Fishermen from these states are seeing the same phenomena.

“Summer flounder off the coast of New York are having poor spawning seasons; everyone is switching to black sea bass, which have become more abundant due to warming waters,” said Charles Witek, an attorney and avid saltwater angler. I never caught a black sea bass in Long Island Sound, in all 27 summers that I lived in Connecticut. Now, they are an important part of the regional fishery.”

“I never caught a black sea bass in Long Island Sound, in all 27 summers that I lived in Connecticut. Now, they are an important part of the regional fishery.”

Dolphinfish, commonly known as mahi-mahi, are a tropical fish traditionally caught between Florida and North Carolina. Now, they are increasingly found in the waters off New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

“When I started fishing offshore in the early ‘80s, once in a while, someone got a dolphin[fish], but only when the warm canyon water came inshore,” Witek said.

“But they were targets of opportunity. … Now, I go out looking for dolphin[fish], and so do a lot of people. My wife and I go out and we catch all that we want. A friend of mine is a charter boat captain and is always talking about how he has dolphin[fish] on top chasing bait.”

Scientific research indicates that the wide-ranging species is sensitive to sea surface temperature and is caught recreationally only in waters warmer than 66.2 degrees Fahrenheit, while catch rates peak at 80.6 degrees F.

Fishermen are also reporting noticing more “funny fish,” or unusual species showing up in their waters. “You can cast a net under lights in Virginia and catch Gulf shrimp—not grass shrimp, Gulf shrimp. The guys that are running oyster aquaculture, it’s becoming common to see Nassau grouper juveniles in the cage—you see it, and you think you’re the only one. Two weeks later, someone else has got one too,” explained Tony Friedrich, former executive director for Maryland’s Coastal Conservation Association and an avid recreational fisherman in Maryland. He added, “I know it’s hard to believe, but adult tarpon

“You can cast a net under lights in Virginia and catch Gulf shrimp—not grass shrimp, Gulf shrimp. The guys that are running oyster aquaculture, it’s becoming common to see Nassau grouper juveniles in the cage—you see it, and you think you’re the only one. Two weeks later, someone else has got one too,” explained Tony Friedrich, former executive director for Maryland’s Coastal Conservation Association and an avid recreational fisherman in Maryland.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but adult tarpon are becoming frequent summer visitors to the southern Delmarva Peninsula,” he added.

Witek also mentioned that “funny fish” are becoming the norm. “Juvenile red drum, croakers, 90-pound cobia have all been caught in New York and shouldn’t be this far north. We are starting to see more tropical fish on a regular basis.”

These changes in the distribution of marine fisheries along the Atlantic coast, as well as changes throughout all U.S. waters, are compiled in the OceanAdapt portal, developed by Malin Pinsky’s research lab at Rutgers University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It illustrates the same trends that are being projected by climate models. The waters along the Northeast are predicted to increase between 1.8 degrees and 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 50 years. As waters warm, and poleward environments become more hospitable for tropical species, fishermen will continue to see more and more of these “funny fish.” Changes in forage fish abundance, habitat loss, and other changes to food web dynamics due to warming waters and changes in ocean chemistry may also contribute to shifts in marine species.

The waters along the Northeast are predicted to increase between 1.8 degrees and 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 50 years. As waters warm, and poleward environments become more hospitable for tropical species, fishermen will continue to see more and more of these “funny fish.” Changes in forage fish abundance, habitat loss, and other changes to food web dynamics due to warming waters and changes in ocean chemistry may also contribute to shifts in marine species.

In New England, the cod fishery is perhaps the most historic and the most troublesome of American fisheries. Decades of intense fishing pressure and overfishing caused the cod populations of the Northeast to almost disappear entirely.

Strict management plans and catch limits slowly helped the stock recover, but cod populations in New England remain low. Research now suggests that climate change, specifically ocean warming in the Gulf of Maine, has hindered the cod population’s ability to rebuild.

The Gulf of Maine has experienced a warming trend of 0.03 degrees Fahrenheit per year since 1982, and the Gulf’s sea surface temperature is warming 99 percent faster than the rest of the global ocean. Warm water hinders the ability of some fish to spawn and has also been linked to smaller body size.

The lobster industry is among those in trouble. Lobster that was once plentiful in southern New England have largely disappeared from those rapidly warming waters over the past 10 years. Instead, the perfect water temperature for lobsters is now found off the coast of Maine, leading to a boom in Maine’s lobster profits. Between 2005 and 2014, Maine lobstermen earned an average of $321 million per year in revenue and supported more than 4,000 harvesting jobs in Maine since 2013.

But fishermen are wary of the longevity of this success if the growing rate of carbon emissions is not addressed.

“Lobsters have become our only major fishery,” said Richard Nelson, a commercial lobsterman in Friendship, Maine. “And it’s gotten to a bad point, because we have become so dependent on a single species and yet know so little about the impacts of warming and ocean acidification.”

Ocean acidification is an ongoing process of the planet’s seawater becoming more acidic as it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere. The resulting increased acidity has harmful effects that we see in coral bleaching, slow growth of shells in mollusks and shellfish, and other impacts scientists are just discovering. That has led some scientists to describe ocean acidification, distinct from global warming, as a more damaging result of increased carbon in the atmosphere.

Nelson has been in the lobster fishery for more than 30 years. He also participated in Maine’s Ocean Acidification Commission, a multistakeholder group that formed in 2014 to assess the state of the scientific research on acidification, as well as the impact that acidification is having on commercially important species.

“So far, what we know is that [the lobster] are affected by multiple stressors, such as warming and acidification together, a combination that has shown changes in respiration and swimming rates. We also see this same warming, when joined with nutrient runoff, helps create coastal acidification and also aggravates toxic algal blooms,” Nelson said. “People have to pay attention to the whole thing.”

Lobsters aren’t the only species affected by climate change in Maine. Bill Mook, owner of Mook Sea Farm, one of the largest oyster producers in Maine, started noticing that his oyster larvae were experiencing disruptions and abnormal development. When this began affecting his business, his team started to treat the seawater used in their hatcheries to make it less acidic.

Mook’s efforts worked, and his oysters grew properly with this treatment. He believes ocean acidification was to blame for the development problems. From 2003 through 2014, the Atlantic Ocean absorbed more than twice as much carbon dioxide than it did from 1989 through 2003, which has led to a measurable drop in pH.

Mook also thinks that freshwater runoff is further reducing the pH of ocean water, making it harder for his oysters to grow. Northeast climate models predict an increase in annual average rainfall as climate change intensifies.

This pattern of increased freshwater runoff is even changing the color of the water in the Gulf of Maine. William “Barney” Balch at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences has been sampling waters from the Gulf of Maine for more than 18 years and found that the fresh water’s yellow color competes with phytoplankton for the wavelengths they need for photosynthesis—ultimately impeding their ability to nourish themselves.

Through his research and analysis, Balch has showed a potential fivefold decrease in primary productivity in the Gulf of Maine over the past decade.

Mook also has to deal with additional food safety concerns linked to the warming climate.

“Warming waters also require additional steps to ensure our oysters are safe to eat, because pathogenic strains of the bacteria—Vibrio parahaemolyticus—are more abundant. If oysters sit on the deck of the boat and are not immediately cooled down, the bacteria can multiply rapidly and cause people to get sick. This never used to be a concern,” he said.

In response, oyster growers and the Maine Department of Marine Resources have worked together to establish regulations aimed at maintaining safe-to-eat oysters.

Meanwhile, in southern New England, fishermen are catching more black sea bass than they are legally allowed to land. Historically, states from Rhode Island to Maine have a much lower quota for black sea bass, since this species is normally found off the coast of North Carolina.

But as black sea bass move north and North Carolina fishing vessels are forced to travel farther distances for their catch, a management problem occurs — fishermen in the northern states are forced to throw their overages away, so are tossing fish overboard.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Trump team may have broken law to score red snapper win

December 19, 2017 — The Trump administration scored last week when a House panel voted to give Gulf of Mexico states more power in managing the popular red snapper, but court records suggest it may be a tainted victory.

Internal memos show that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and a top adviser may have knowingly violated federal fisheries law in June when they extended the Gulf red snapper season, hoping the move would pressure Congress to act.

In a June 1 memo, Earl Comstock, the Commerce Department’s director of policy and strategic planning, told Ross that a longer season “would result in overfishing” of the stock by as much as 40 percent and possibly prompt a lawsuit.

But Comstock urged Ross to extend the season anyway, saying it could lead to “a significant achievement” by forcing Congress to liberalize the federal law and transfer more authority to Gulf states.

“It would allow a reset in the acrimonious relationship and set the stage for Congress to adopt a long-term fix,” Comstock told Ross.

Comstock followed up with a second memo on June 7, reminding his boss that both the White House and a dozen congressmen from Gulf states had asked Ross to explore the possibility of a longer fishing season.

The next week, Ross decided to extend the season from three to 42 days, much to the joy of recreational anglers in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (Greenwire, Sept. 20).

Critics say the memos offer proof that Commerce and NOAA Fisheries plotted to bypass the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a 1976 law that sets quotas as a way to rebuild overfished stocks, including the red snapper.

“I appreciate it when people are transparent about their intentions,” said Janis Searles Jones, the CEO of Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental group.

Commerce made the memos public as part of its response to a lawsuit filed in July in U.S. District Court in Washington by Ocean Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund. The complaint accuses Ross, NOAA and NOAA Fisheries of mismanagement by allowing overfishing.

Read the full story at E&E News