October 23, 2013 — The following letter to the editor was sent by Monty Diehl, Director of Fishing Operations at Omega Protein, in response to a previous letter titled "Stop menhaden fishing in Virginia waters" that was published in the Gazette-Journal on October 9, 2013.
The Gazette-Journal inadvertently misinformed its readers recently by publishing a letter from retired Norfolk dentist, Dr. John Lapetina Sr. ("Stop menhaden fishing in Virginia waters," Oct. 10 Readers Write), which wasn’t based on scientific fact and fell short of historical accuracy. Although Dr. Lapetina is a past Fisheries Management chair of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, his personal recollections and unfounded conclusions run counter to history and fact.
His claims of herring’s alleged eradication and a causal link to the menhaden fishery disregard historical and scientific accuracy. Atlantic herring barely even enter the Bay’s waters. They spawn in the Atlantic (not the Bay), and are far from "wiped out." As for an alleged link between herring populations and menhaden, the menhaden purse seine fishery has almost no bycatch and doesn’t target herring.
But these minor inaccuracies pale in comparison to Dr. Lapetina’s more outlandish claims:
—He incorrectly alleges that in 1990 one billion menhaden were caught in the Bay. In fact, that number accounts for all menhaden harvested that year from Canada all the way to North Carolina.
—The company he accuses of single-handedly catching "a billion" of the Bay’s menhaden, Standard Products, didn’t exist at this time.
—NOAA and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission have both consistently concluded that menhaden recruitment is independent of fishing pressure, indicating environmental conditions are the defining factor for menhaden biomass.