January 25, 2013 — The following is an excerpt from the piece "The Bottom Line: Menhaden Could Make a Comeback", written by Lee Crockett of the Pew Environment Group:
After decades of decline and chronic overfishing, the Atlantic menhaden might have just turned the corner toward a comeback. A rebuilt population of these little fish would have big benefits for the ecosystem and economy of the entire east coast.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a body of regulators from 15 states, made important management decisions last month that will restore and protect Atlantic menhaden populations. For the first time ever, coastwide limits were placed on the amount of menhaden that can be taken out of the sea. Industries responsible for overfishing this important species will have to reduce their catch by 25 percent of what they caught in 2011.
This means that approximately 300 million more menhaden will be left in the ocean each year to fulfill their role in the marine food web instead of being used for industrial commodities or bait.
The unassuming Atlantic menhaden, often called “the most important fish in the sea,” plays an essential role in coastal ecosystems from Maine to Florida. It is a food source for wildlife such as whales, dolphins, ospreys, and eagles, as well as valuable fish species such as tuna, cod, striped bass, and tarpon.
In an unprecedented outpouring of support, more than 350 fishermen, conservationists, scientists, and other proponents of menhaden protection attended the commission’s meeting December 14, 2012. Their presence bolstered the more than 126,000 public comments encouraging the commission to make a science-based decision.
Read the full story on the Pew Environment Group website
Analysis: In “The Bottom Line: Menhaden Could Make a Comeback,” published on the Pew Environment Group’s website, author, Lee Crockett, praises the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) for their recently established cuts on Atlantic menhaden harvests. But in the process of explaining his hopes the future of the species, he leaves out vital information about the management situation surrounding the cuts.
Mr. Crockett states that “more than 126,000” public comments were submitted to the ASMFC in support of drastic cuts. What he doesn’t say is that this response was instigated by Pew-organized online campaigns – in partnership with Greenpeace and conservation groups – using alarmist and sensationalized headlines that selectively presented facts about the species status. The validity of these claims was also called into question by Politifact Rhode Island and the Providence Journal, who, after careful analysis, found them to be “mostly false”.
At the December ASMFC Menhaden Board meeting, New York Commissioner, Pat Augustine, challenged some of the public comments that the ASMFC received from large special interest groups, like Mr. Crockett’s Pew Environment. Mr. Augustine described how he became suspicious of the amount of comments coming in through these groups and began to call individuals listed on petitions distributed by these organizations. He called the first seven people listed, and to his dismay, they were all unaware their name was included on a circulated letter. Additionally, none of the people contacted even knew of menhaden’s existence.
Although Mr. Crockett claims that these public comments encouraged the ASMFC to make a science-based decision for the future of menhaden management, he doesn’t mention that this science is currently unavailable to the commissioners. The ASMFC’s Menhaden Technical Committee considers the latest stock assessment on menhaden, the 2012 update assessment, severely flawed, and determined that it was not a suitable reference for future management decisions. This means that the last reliable stock assessment only included data through 2008.
This week, the ASMFC approved a report from the Menhaden Technical Committee concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support previous claims that menhaden are overfished. In keeping with their responsibility to produce reliable data on the species’ status, and certainly in light of current deficiencies in that regard, the ASMFC plans to conduct another stock assessment as soon as possible.
Mr. Crockett is also highly critical of Omega Protein’s involvement in Virginia State politics writing that “Industry there has persuaded state officials to oppose previous attempts to conserve the species,” implying that political contributions by Omega Protein have hindered previous menhaden management efforts. This vastly overstates the power of the political campaign contributions of Omega Protein to the Virginia legislature. Over the past three years, Omega Protein has contributed a total of $124,000 to political campaigns and political action committees (PACs) in the state. This ranks it at #187 on the list of political donors in Virginia during that time period. As a point of comparison, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, the 146th largest donor, made over $155,000 in contributions.