The 15-state commission charged with regulating the Atlantic fishery is considering action to significantly reduce the amount of menhaden allowed to be harvested each year. The action, if approved, could have far-reaching effects in the Northern Neck where approximately 250 workers are employed at Reedville Omega Protein factory, the last of its kind on the east coast.
On Aug. 2, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to send for public comments measures to "establish a new fishing mortality threshold and target with the goal of increasing abundance, spawning stock biomass and menhaden availability as a forage species," according to Tina Berger, public affairs specialist with ASMFC.
State Senator Richard Stuart (R-Westmoreland), Virginia's legislative appointee on the ASMFC, came back from Alexandria on Aug. 2 "very disappointed and frustrated."
At a March meeting, the menhaden management board backed shifting to a "multi-species model" to oversee the forage species, which examines menhaden as part of the food chain. At that time, the board also embraced a 15 percent maximum spawning potential (MSP) figure, which means that 15 percent of reproduction-aged fish would be prevented from harvest. The current MSP is 8 percent.
On Aug. 2, the board's March action was ignored, Stuart said, pointing out that the chairman of the ASMFC's technical committee pushed through an MSP as high as 40 percent.
"Forty percent MSP would be devastating to the industry," Stuart said, referring to both the reduction and bait-fishing sectors.
Currently, Omega Protein accounts for nearly 80 percent of the menhaden harvested annually, according to ASMFC calculations, with the remainder attributed to fishermen who harvest menhaden for use as bait.
Read the full article at the Northumberland Echo.