If local anglers can point to one thing that has made the striped bass fishing outstanding around here in recent years, it’s the return of big schools of mossbunker.
With that in mind, those who chase stripers will be interested to know that he Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has scheduled public hearings on Draft Addendum V to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management plan for Atlantic menhaden
The draft addendum proposes establishing a new interim fishing mortality threshold with the goal of increasing the spawning stock biomass and the availability of mossbunker as a forage species.
The impetus behind the addendum is that the 2010 Atlantic menhaden benchmark stock assessment noted that the abundance of mossbunker had declined steadily and that recruitment had been low since the last peak in the early 1980s. As is always the case with fishery management, the means by which a greater abundance of mossbunker will be achieved is always a subject for debate.
And that is why the public hearings have been scheduled. New Jersey’s hearing is set for 7 p.m. on Sept. 29 in Toms River at 33 Washington St., in the L.M. Hirshblond Room.
Those interested in leaning more about Draft Addendum V, it is availble here .
Outlined in the amendment are a number of management options and proposals for increasing bunker abundance. The menahaden management board will meet at the Commission’s annual meeting in November to review public comment and consider final action.
Read the full article at the Asbury Park Press.
Analysis: There is a commonly held misconception that menhaden (also known as mossbunker) make up a substantial or irreplaceable part of the diet of striped bass and other fish species. While menhaden are a component of striped bass diets, and exact numbers are hard to determine, recent studies by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science indicate otherwise. As part of their ongoing ChesMMAP survey, VIMS monitors the diet of several fish species in the Chesapeake Bay. In their most recent findings, they concluded that menhaden make up as little as 9% of striped bass diet.