“The vote taken was exactly what we wanted,” said John Crawford, the Pew Environmental Group’s science and policy manager for the northeast fisheries.
A small silver fish, menhaden has outsized importance in the sea, serving as sustenance for many larger fish and providing vital oils for healthy human hearts. But the population of menhaden has plummeted to just 8 percent of its historical levels off the East Coast as overfishing has taken its toll. After years of pressure from environmental groups and recreational fishermen, a panel that regulates fishing from Maine to Florida decided yesterday in Boston to reduce the catch of menhaden by as much as 37 percent of the number caught last year.
Environmental groups called the vote by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission unprecedented and said it would help protect many other animals that depend on menhaden for food, from striped bass and bluefish to ospreys and loons.
“Scientists have warned that having too few menhaden in the water could result in disastrous impacts on the fish and wildlife that eat them,’’ said Peter Baker, director of northeast fisheries at the Pew Environment Group. “Today’s decision marks a watershed moment.’’
The commercial fishing industry has long lobbied against reducing the catch, asserting that the menhaden population remains healthy and that jobs will be jeopardized.
Among the most vocal opponents of the catch reduction, which will take effect in 2013, was a Texas-based company that harvests nearly all the menhaden caught from Cape Cod to North Carolina. Officials from Omega Protein Inc. said they may have to close a plant in Virginia that employs more than 300 people, who harvest hundreds of millions of pounds of menhaden every year.
“What the commission did is akin to swatting a gnat with a sledgehammer,’’ said Ron Lukens, a senior fisheries biologist for Omega. “It’s absolutely a disappointment. We knew we were going to take a cut, but this is a little too much to swallow.’’
Read the full article at the Boston Globe.
Analysis: While many advocates claim that menhaden are overfished and the article says that the population has "plummeted," it is important to note that, according to the most recent stock assessment by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the menhaden fishery is currently not overfished. There also is no recent pattern of overfishing, as it has only occurred once in the last 10 years of the assessment.