It was three hundred and sixty five days since I last wrote about Menhaden. Nevertheless it has taken a year of multi pronged advocacy from the Menhaden Coalition to get to the purpose where the Atlantic States Marine Fish Commission (ASMFC) has finally taken a major action to reform menhaden management.
Menhaden? You're asking of yourself what the heck is a Menhaden. Menhaden are a small oily fish it really is actually one of the important fish inside the sea. The tiny fish is a huge prey species for Striped Bass, Bluefish, multiple bird species, whales and a bunch of alternative marine animals. Menhaden are keystone species and a significant foundation of the coastal food web from New England to Florida.
It's been said that in the event you eat a wild fish you're eating Menhaden. They've been seriously overfished and the population is currently lower than 10 percent in their unfished level. It truly is the bottom population level ever recorded. The ecosystem is feeling this stress as all the species dependant on Menhaden can't find enough food from starving Striped Bass to Ospreys. Over the past 25 years under the management of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commisison (ASMFC), the Menhaden population has plummeted. The ASMFC has “managed” Menhaden for the advantage of one company, Omega Protein, which grinds them up for industrial uses like fertilizer and animal feed.
The ASMFC after years of ignoring the extraordinary ecosystem overfishing and depletion of menhaden yesterday passed a draft menhaden management plan addendum that would now be sent out for public comment. This draft proposal, if adopted, at their November meeting will fundamentally change menhaden management and put it at the road to ecosystem based management – this can be a huge victory.
Read the full article at Blue Planet News.
Analysis: Menhaden are part of the diet of striped bass. However, their importance to the diet is greatly exaggerated in the article. Striped bass eat a variety of sea creatures, including crustaceans, worms, menhaden and other fish. Research by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, as part of an ongoing study found that between 2002 and 2009 menhaden can constitute as little as 9.6% of striped bass diet.
Similarly, the article's claims that menhaden are "seriously overfished" is contradicted by the most recent stock assessment by the ASMFC , which concluded that the population was not overfished.