May 7, 2015 — Fisheries managers voted this week to restore half of the 20 percent cut made in 2012 to menhaden harvests by East Coast commercial fisheries, including the Omega Protein reduction plant in Reedville.
They also agreed to incorporate ecological impacts of harvests on fish and birds that rely on menhaden in their diet, and to reconsider how menhaden catches are allocated. Virginia receives 85 percent of the total annual catch along the East Coast.
“When limits were imposed in 2012, local watermen who catch menhaden for bait were disproportionately affected,” said Chris Moore, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s chief scientist.
Menhaden is eaten by fish and birds, used as bait by watermen and anglers, and rendered by Omega Protein to make fish oil supplements and food for fish farms. Traveling in large schools, the fish move up and down the coast and in and out of bays, making it difficult for biologists to ensure they’re not being over-fished.
In 2012, a scientific assessment indicated the fish were in trouble, so regulators cut commercial harvests by 20 percent. Commercial fishermen lost jobs and Omega Protein, the remaining fish-reduction plant in Reedville, cut back its fleet and laid off some 35 workers.