RICHMOND, Va. — Fisheries regulators voted Wednesday to reduce by more than one-third the harvest of menhaden, a small fish that plays a big ecological role in the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the fish that swim in its waters.
Meeting in Boston, the menhaden board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to cut the annual harvest by 37 percent, according to calculations by the Pew Environmental Group. The new harvest limit, which is subject to a vote by the full commission in one year, would be effective in 2013.
Approximately 460 million pounds of Atlantic menhaden were caught in 2010, primarily by trawlers that scoop up the fish in nets in the bay and along portions of the coast. Lobstermen in Maine and Massachusetts and bay crabbers also use the oily fish to bait their traps.
Environmentalists, scientists and sports fishermen have lobbied for years for the more stringent catch limits. The forage species is eaten by prized game fish such as striped bass, or rock fish, and filters the Chesapeake Bay, improving its water quality.
"They did the right thing today," said Peter Baker of the Pew Group. "I think they heard the public loud and clear."
The commission held 13 public hearings on menhaden and received nearly 92,000 comments, the vast majority seeking to limit the harvest.
The reduced catch is intended to allow menhaden stocks to rebound.
Read the full article from the Associated Press.
Analysis: While many environmental advocates quoted in the article argue that reductions in the menhaden harvest are necessary as a result of overfishing, the most recent data collected on the fishery reveals no pattern of overfishing in recent history. According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) 2010 stock assessment, the menhaden population is currently not overfished and overfishing had only occurred once in the last ten years.
The article also overstates menhadens impact on water qualtiy. Several studies, including a recent one conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, concluded that menhaden have little, if any, net impact on water quality.