October 10, 2012 — The following was published by Lee Crockett, the Director of US Fisheries Campaigns for the Pew Environment Group.
Like many fishermen, I've used menhaden, or "bunker," as bait. It's hard to believe, but when you're holding one of these small, oily fish, you're holding a big piece of history. Menhaden have had a major impact on the economy and ecology of our Atlantic coast for centuries, supporting a multimillion-dollar fishery, enriching crops on the land, and feeding nearly every creature in the ocean, from striped bass to humpback whales.
Now this historic fish faces its own pivotal moment. Menhaden numbers have plunged nearly 90 percent over the past 25 years, and the regulators responsible for their management will soon make a critical decision. In December, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) could finally help the depleted population recover by setting a coastwide, science- based annual catch limit.
This moment is eerily similar to an episode from the history books.
By the late 1800s, menhaden were already important to farmers and controversial among fishermen. The fish had long been used to fertilize fields and dozens of processing plants from North Carolina to Maine churned boatloads of menhaden into plant food and oil.
Read the full article at the Huffington Post
Analysis: Warning of a “depleted” menhaden stock and a population that has “plunged nearly 90 percent over the past 25 years,” Lee Crockett, Pew Environment Group’s Director of US Fisheries Campaigns, paints a bleak picture of the current Atlantic menhaden population. But, by leaving out several important pieces of information, Crockett’s portrait is exaggerated and one-sided. Along with a similarly misleading petition from Northeast Fisheries Program Director Peter Baker, Pew's most recent op-ed is part of a continuing pattern of selectively omitting relevant facts about menhaden. Examining these omitted facts reveals a situation that is much less dire than Pew suggests.
Crockett’s claim that menhaden biomass has declined 90 percent in 25 years is particularly selective, because it does not examine the whole time series of available data. The length of time cited in the article (the last 25 years) begins during a period (the early-to-mid 1980s) when menhaden biomass was particularly high. Over the 50-plus years that data on menhaden biomass has been recorded by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), biomass has fluctuated based on the strength of menhaden recruitment (the number of menhaden that are born), and current biomass figures are similar to the levels seen in the late 1960s, when biomass was lower. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, several years saw especially strong recruitment, which were followed by years of high biomass. The decline that Crockett cites is part of an alternating cycle of strong and weak recruitment.
Missing from the discussion of the decline and growth of menhaden biomass is the role of climate and environment, two major influences on recruitment. While the commercial fleet has declined by about 79% since the mid 1980s (from 38 vessels in 1984 to 8 vessels in 2012), environmental conditions have fluctuated widely, producing circumstances that are alternately favorable and unfavorable for menhaden recruitment. Conditions in the late 1970s and early 1980s proved favorable, during a period when the menhaden industry was significantly larger than it is today; conditions since have been considerably less so. The relationship between menhaden and climate is recognized both by NOAA, which writes, “menhaden recruitment appears to be independent of fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass, indicating environmental factors may be the defining factor in the production of good year classes,” and the ASMFC, which concluded that fluctuations in menhaden abundance may be, “almost entirely driven by non-fishery sources.”
Further claiming that menhaden are a “depleted population” in need of stronger conservation measures ignores several other important facts. Based on both the 2010 and 2012 menhaden stock assessments, menhaden are not considered overfished, meaning that the stock was producing enough eggs to sustain itself. Far from being depleted, the 2012 assessment concluded that the population’s abundance was 40 percent above the level where it would be considered overfished. This is despite the fact the assessment was found by the ASMFC’s Menhaden Technical Committee to have routinely overestimated fishing mortality and underestimated the population size, indicating that the assessment’s estimations are likely too pessimistic.
As Crockett mentions, menhaden are both an ecologically and economically important species to the Chesapeake Bay. But Crockett’s exaggerated presentation of menhaden as a species in decline misleads readers on the current status of menhaden. Instead of offering a balanced portrayal of the fishery, Crockett's writing skews the facts in favor of Pew Environment's preferred management agenda.
Citations:
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, “Stock Assessment Report No. 10-02 of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment and Review Panel Reports,” 2010
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, "2012 Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update," 2012
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, “Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee Conference Call Summary,” June 15, 2012
Saving Seafood, Areas of Concern in ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Assessment Update, 2012
NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office, “Menhaden Fact Page”