Saving Seafood

Offshore wind developers court recreational fishing community

March 8, 2019 — Offshore wind energy developers are courting recreational fishermen in the New York Bight, who could gain dozens of new fishing spots around turbine towers, but worry about impacts of the massive projects on traditional fishing grounds.

“Obviously the hot button for us is access,” said charter captain Paul Eidman of Anglers for Offshore Wind Power, a project of the National Wildlife Federation, which hosted the meeting in Toms River, N.J., on Wednesday along with the American Littoral Society for offshore wind companies and recreational fishermen.

“There’s a lot being proposed to go out in the ocean and on the bottom,” said Tim Dillingham of the littoral society, adding that the developing industry must avoid critical fish habitat and seafloor bumps and ridges that are important to anglers and the region’s big charter and party boat fleet.

There are conflicted feelings in the recreational community. Many anglers want to see the new hard structure that turbine construction would put into the water, swiftly attracting hydroid and shellfish growth that become the base for new fishing hotspots, much like artificial reefs.

Read the full story at Workboat

Omega Protein disputes article ‘attacking’ menhaden fishing

October 22, 2018 — US menhaden harvester Omega Protein has disputed the accuracy of recent statements made by a conservation group that wants to end commercial fishing of the species.

Paul Eidman of the group Menhaden Defenders recently wrote an essay, “Trouble comes to town”,  describing a fishing trip that an Omega vessel recently took to New Jersey and New York waters. That trip, Eidman asserted, harvested menhaden that otherwise would have been consumed by whales.

“This event sparked an outpouring of renewed interest in menhaden, and now local folks want to stop the harvest completely since Omega Protein is removing all of the whales’ food from the area,” Eidman wrote.

The company wrote in a Oct. 18 press release that all of its fishing, including the recent trip up north from its usual more southerly fishing grounds, complies with state and federal regulations and that Eidman’s piece got “key facts wrong”.

A limit on menhaden fishing was established by the Atlantic States Fisheries Management Council and Omega is in compliance with this limit, the company, which is owned by Canada’s Cooke Aquaculture, said.

“This limit ensures that the menhaden fishery is not taking a harmful amount of fish from whales’ diets. Last year, an analysis  using data from the 2017 Atlantic menhaden stock assessment found that current management leaves 92% of menhaden in the water to fulfill their role in the ecosystem,” the company said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Board will try again in the fall to set menhaden quota

August 5, 2016 — The coastwide menhaden quota for next year was not set in Alexandria, Virginia, where the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission had convened this week for its summer session.

The commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board deliberated all Wednesday morning but was not able to get a majority vote on any of the several options it had been presented with.

It could have raised the coastwide harvest by as little as 20 million pounds to as much as 165 million pounds. Or it could have left it at the status quo of 415 million pounds. There were no choices to reduce the catch.

“They were throwing out all these options, a 20 percent increase, a 10 percent increase…but when it came time to vote they kept coming to a tie over and over again,” said Paul Eidman, a recreational charter boat captain, who listened to the hearings via conference call.

Atlantic coastal states where menhaden aren’t as plentiful or where there is less demand for the bait, voted against any quota hike more than 5 percent.

Tina Berger, ASMFC spokesperson, said the board will vote again at the annual meeting in late October.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press