Saving Seafood

Rhode Island to launch year-long local seafood marketing campaign

December 2, 2021 — Starting in January, the State of Rhode Island is hoping to encourage residents and visitors to seek out locally caught seafood to help grow the in-state seafood industry.  They’ll do so by way of a year-long marketing campaign.

Bob Ballou with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management says, “What we want to try to do with this program is promote the availability of this abundant, diverse and delicious supply of fresh, local seafood to help stimulate the local market.”

The campaign will run for all of 2022, funded by $300,000 in federal grant money.  According to the DEM, commercial fishing in the state supports more than 4,000 jobs and harvests 80,000,000 pounds of seafood per year.

Read the full story at ABC 6

Menhaden catch limit raised along Atlantic coast, slashed in Bay

November 20, 2017 — East Coast fishery managers plan to increase the coastwide menhaden catch by 8 percent next year, while slashing the amount that can be harvested from the Chesapeake Bay.

But despite heavy pressure from environmental groups, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission balked at a proposal that would have required fishery managers to take into account the ecological role of the small, oily fish when setting future harvest levels.

By the end of their two-day meeting in mid-November, commissioners had succeeded in disappointing and pleasing environmentalists and industry officials alike — typically not at the same time — while setting up another big debate two years from now over how to account for the role menhaden play as a food source for other species.

In a statement after the meeting, Robert Ballou, of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and chair of the ASMFC Menhaden Board, acknowledged that many people were left disappointed by the decisions that will guide harvests for the next two years. But he said the commission’s actions demonstrated a “commitment to manage the menhaden resource in a way that balances menhaden’s ecological role with the needs of its stakeholders.”

It was the latest round in a decades-long struggle over how to manage the catch of Atlantic menhaden, a fish almost never eaten by humans that is an important food for a host of marine species. By weight, menhaden make up the largest catch in both the Chesapeake and along the East Coast, but by nearly all accounts their abundance is increasing, especially in New England. In fact, the ASMFC’s science advisers indicated that the current coastal catch limit of 200,000 metric tons could be increased by more than 50 percent with little chance of overfishing the species.

But conservation groups have long argued that such assessments do not fully account for the importance of menhaden as a food source for marine mammals, many birds, and a host of other fish, such as striped bass.

It is part of a larger, long-running debate between conservation groups and the fishing industry over how to treat forage fish, which include menhaden, anchovies and other small species that provide a critical link in the aquatic food chain by converting plankton into nourishment for larger predators.

Historically, conservationists contend that forage species have received less attention — and protection from overfishing — than the larger predators, such as striped bass. Prior to the meeting near Baltimore, conservationists had gathered a record-setting 157,599 comments urging the ASMFC to adopt new harvest guidelines, or reference points, that would take the ecological role of the fish into account when setting catch limits. If adopted, the guidelines would almost certainly have required a reduction in the current coastwide menhaden catch.

But critics — which included ASMFC’s own scientific advisers, as well as the commercial menhaden industry — said the reference points under consideration were based on studies of other species in other places and may not be applicable to menhaden.

Ultimately, the commission — a panel of state fishery managers that regulates catches of migratory fish along the coast — voted 13–5 to delay the adoption of ecological reference points until a panel of scientists it has assembled can make its own ecological recommendations, tailored specifically to menhaden. Those recommendations are not expected to be ready until 2019.

Dozens of activists attended the meeting, many holding bright yellow signs that said, “Little Fish Big Deal,” “Keep it Forage” or “Conserve Menhaden.” Many were surprised not only to be defeated after the huge volume of comments — more than 99 percent in favor of ecological reference points — but also by the lopsided vote.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

 

Atlantic Menhaden Board Votes Against Ecological Management Plan For Fishery

November 17, 2017 — The Atlantic Menhaden Board voted earlier this week to stick to the status quo when managing the menhaden fishery and made slight changes to the annual catch limit. However, Saving Seafood, a group that represents the commercial fishing industry, has mixed feelings about those changes.

Menhaden are a forage fish found across the Atlantic Coast. The Board was considering implementing a new ecological-based management plan that was designed for forage fish.

The plan would have required fishermen to leave enough fish in the water for it to replenish itself and enough for predators to eat. However, the board voted no for the plan because it’s not specifically designed for menhaden.

Bob Vanasse, executive director at Saving Seafood, said the group agrees with the board’s decision.

“I think this was a strong statement that moving forward science needs to prevail, data needs to prevail and we need to look at this complex system in its complexity and not try apply a rule of thumb in every circumstance,” Vanasse said.

The menhaden board also voted to increase the annual catch quota by eight percent.

Read the full story at WNPR

 

Political pressure affected quota decision, menhaden industry group charges

November 17, 2017 — A day after the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to raise the catch limit on Atlantic menhaden by eight percent, a trade group claimed on Wednesday that the commission let political pressure affect not only that raise but how quotas were allocated across member states.

The commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved an amendment to raise the total catch limit to 216,000 metric tons. However, in doing so, it gave each member state a minimum share of 0.5 percent. While those shares seem small for states that do not have an active menhaden fishery, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition said it will have a significant impact on the two largest fisheries, Virginia and New Jersey.

Virginia received an allocation of 78.66 percent, while New Jersey got 10.87 percent. No other state received more than 1.27 percent of the allocation.

“The creation of a system allowing non-fishing states to ‘horse-trade’ allocation, the ‘taking’ of quota from some to give to others, and the arbitrary moving of quota from the marine ingredients fishery to the bait fishery constitute inappropriate intrusions into the market economy, our members say,” the coalition said in a press release issued late Wednesday afternoon.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

New Chesapeake Bay menhaden rules spark praise, criticism

November 15, 2017 — CHESAPEAKE BAY, Va. — New regulations on the harvest of menhaden are proving a mixed bag for local industry and conservationists.

Menhaden is a key part of the Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystem, serving as food for larger fish, mammals and birds. But they are also the key raw material for Omega Protein. Every day Omega turns tons of menhaden into fish oil, fish meal and other products.

As we showed you in our investigation Controversial Catch two years ago, Omega is the last major company of its kind on the Atlantic Coast, and has been operating in Reedville since the mid-1800s. Omega employs about 250 people there.

This week at its meeting near Baltimore, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has raised the total allowable catch of menhaden, from Maine to Florida, by 8 percent.

But Omega is not happy about that, because at the same time, the commission cut the amount the company can catch from the Chesapeake Bay by 40 percent.

Read the full story at WAVY

 

Menhaden vote a mixed bag for Virginia

November 15, 2017 — There was measured praise and disappointment all around this week after a regional fisheries commission voted on a 2018-2019 management plan for Atlantic menhaden, often called the most important fish in the sea.

For Virginia, too, it was a mixed bag.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided at an annual meeting in Linthicum, Md., to lower the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap by 41.5 percent, from 87,216 metric tons to 51,000 metric tons. This pleases Virginia conservationists, but not the reduction fishery.

The commission said in a statement that its decision “recognizes the importance of the Chesapeake Bay as nursery grounds” for menhaden and many other species that rely on menhaden as a food source.

It also bumped up the coast-wide catch limit for menhaden by 8 percent to 216,000 metric tons — a net plus for fisheries, and a “modest” increase with a “zero percent chance of subjecting the resource to overfishing or causing it to be overfished,” the commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Board Chairman Robert Ballou of Rhode Island said in a statement.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

 

Green groups, fishermen at odds over new rules on small fish

November 15, 2017 — Environmentalists and commercial fishing groups on the East Coast are divided over a decision to increase the amount fishermen can catch of an ecologically vital small fish.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved changes to menhaden fishing rules on Tuesday, including increasing the East Coast’s fishing quota by 8 percent, or some 35 million pounds (15.88 million kilograms) of fish.

The decision followed a string of public hearings and weeks of debate about how to manage a fish that is important for such industries as fish oil for human supplements and meal for aquaculture, but is also a vital food source for whales, dolphins and large fish.

The commission had been considering several new ways of managing menhaden, some of which included potentially reducing the quota — an idea environmental activist groups supported.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WRAL

 

ASMFC Approves Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden

November 15, 2017 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: 

Linthicum, MD – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Menhaden.  The Amendment maintains the management program’s current single-species biological reference points until the review and adoption of menhaden-specific ecological reference points as part of the 2019 benchmark stock assessment process. It also addresses a suite of commercial management measures including allocation, quota transfers, quota rollovers, incidental catch, the episodic events set aside program, and the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap.

In addition to its Amendment 3 deliberations, the Board set the total allowable catch for the 2018 and 2019 fishing seasons at 216,000 metric tons (mt) with the expectation that the setting of the TAC for subsequent years will be guided by menhaden-specific ecological reference points.

“Through adoption of Amendment 3 and the setting of the 2018 and 2019 TAC at a risk-averse level, the Board has demonstrated its continued commitment to manage the menhaden resource in a way that balances menhaden’s ecological role with the needs of its stakeholders,” stated Board Chair Robert Ballou of Rhode Island. “While the Amendment maintains the current reference points, the Board placed the development of menhaden-specific ecological reference points as its highest priority.  While the Board’s action was not supported by the majority of public comment received, it is still a conservative management action relative to our understanding of stock status and many of the positive signals we see in the current stock conditions. Specifically, the 2017 Stock Assessment Update indicated the resource remains healthy, with increases in abundance particularly in the norther states. Risks to the resource under our current reference points are well understood, while changes to the TAC under the general forage fish guidelines are not as well understood. Further, the approved TAC, which represents a modest 8% increase in the coastwide quota, has zero percent chance of subjecting the resource to overfishing or causing it to be overfished.”

Amendment 3 also changes fishery allocations in order to strike an improved balance between gear types and jurisdictions. The Amendment allocates a baseline quota of 0.5% to each jurisdiction, and then allocates the rest of the TAC based on historic landings between 2009 and 2011 (see table below). This measure provides fishing opportunities to states which currently have little quota while still recognizing historic landings in the fishery. The Board also agreed to maintain the quota transfer process, prohibit the rollover of unused quota, maintain the 6,000 lb trip limit for non-directed and small-scale gears following the closure of a directed fishery, and set aside 1% of the TAC for episodic events in the states of New York through Maine. “The Board worked collaboratively and effectively to forge an outcome that is fair and responsive to the needs and interest of all East Coast states” said Chair Ballou.

Table 1. Amendment 3 allocation percentages based on a 0.5% fixed minimum during the 2009-2011 timeframe.

State Allocations (%)
Maine 0.52%
New Hampshire 0.50%
Massachusetts 1.27%
Rhode Island 0.52%
Connecticut 0.52%
New York 0.69%
New Jersey 10.87%
Pennsylvania 0.50%
Delaware 0.51%
Maryland 1.89%
Potomac River Fisheries Commission 1.07%
Virginia 78.66%
North Carolina 0.96%
South Carolina 0.50%
Georgia 0.50%
Florida 0.52%
Total 100%

Finally, the Amendment reduces the Chesapeake Bay cap, which was first implemented in 2006 to limit the amount of reduction harvest within the Bay, to 51,000 mt from 87,216 mt. This recognizes the importance of the Chesapeake Bay as nursery grounds for many species by capping recent reduction landings from the Bay to current levels.

States must submit implementation plans to the Commission by January 1, 2018 for final implementation by April 15, 2018. The Amendment will be available on the Commission’s website, www.asmfc.org, by the end of November. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

To learn more about the ASMFC visit their site here.

 

Rebound seen for popular lobster bait fishery

November 9th, 2016 — Commercial fishermen can breathe a sigh a relief, as interstate fishing regulators say that the population of menhaden, a fish only topped by herring as the most popular type of bait for Maine’s lobster industry, continues to be healthy.

According to the Associated Press, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is reporting that menhaden fishery isn’t experiencing overfishing and continues to reproduce at a healthy rate. Atlantic Menhaden Board Chairman Robert Ballou added that the healthy population levels will give regulators a chance to reevaluate how to manage the fishery, which is typically worth more than $100 million annually, the AP reported.

The good news about the menhaden population comes on the heels of Maine’s menhaden fishery being closed by regulators for a week and a half in August, following reports that the annual landings quota for Maine, Rhode Island and New York, had been exceeded.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Regulators say menhaden, a key ocean fish, in good shape

November 7, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Interstate fishing regulators say prospects are good for menhaden, a fish that is critical to the health of the ocean.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says menhaden are not experiencing overfishing and their reproduction is good. The commission says the amount of menhaden that die from fishing operations is well below targeted levels.

Atlantic Menhaden Board Chair Robert Ballou says the stock’s good condition gives regulators an opportunity to reevaluate how to manage the fish.

Menhaden are an important source of bait for commercial fishermen and they are also a critical piece of the ocean’s food web. They’re also used to make dietary supplements.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald