ASMFC

"The public now has a chance to give its support to the most conservative rebuilding options being considered," says says Ken Hinman, president of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation (NCMC). "An opportunity like this, one that could have such far reaching effects for so many species, doesn't come along often."

Dear Commissioner,

I commend the ASMFC for acting to increase abundance of Atlantic menhaden, which will benefit many other species and dependent fisheries along the east coast.

I support adoption of a new overfishing Threshold, Option 2, a level corresponding to 15% of menhaden’s maximum spawning potential (MSP).

I strongly urge the ASMFC to manage the fishery to a new target that is safely above the threshold, significantly increases abundance, and takes into account menhaden’s ecological role as a forage fish.

Target Option 3, a fishing level corresponding to 30% MSP, should be the minimum target for rebuilding menhaden, since it is a standard measure for a sustainable fishery.

But because of menhaden’s enormous value to the Atlantic ecosystem, I support Target Option 4. Maintaining at least 40% MSP is the accepted target reference point for forage fish like menhaden.

The ASMFC should move as swiftly as possible to develop management options effective for managing menhaden to the new target.

Sincerely,
Name, Address, City, State, Zip Code

See the sample letter at the National Coalition for Marine Conservation.

Analysis: The Coalition for Marine Conservation argues that allowing fishing to 15% maximum spawning potential (MSP) with target thresholds up to 40% MSP necessary to maintain the health of the fishery and ensure adaquete menhaden recruitment. Their minimum goal of 15% MSP is currently double the 8% MSP currently allowed by law. However, there is not sufficient evidence to indicate that the current 8% MSP threshold is inadaquete for maintaining the menhaden fishery. The Fishery Management Plan for the menhaden fishery from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) states that, on average, menhaden are able to respawn at lower MSP levels that other species, which is why the menhaden MSP is often lower than 20%. The ASMFC's most recent stock assessment in 2010 stated that the population was not overfished, and that overfishing had only occured once in the last ten years. Similarly, menhaden fecundity for this period was at 99% of its target.

 

 

On August 2 the Menhaden Management Board voted to put a proposal for changing menhaden management methods out for public comment. Apparently the menhaden situation has now gotten serious enough that most of the 15 states that make up the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission have indicated a desire to hold public hearings on the proposed regulations.

Finally there will be an opportunity for the folks whose resource is in jeopardy to weigh in on what happens to the resource. These meetings will take place during September and October. Typically they have not been well attended which conveys the impression that the issue is not important except to the commercial fishing interests.

If you want to see change in how your menhaden are managed, attend and let your views be known to the Commissioners who hold the fate of this species in their hands. At times the language used to describe the state of the stock and the methods used to manage are hard to follow. So, I’m going to break out the facts in a more informal manner so they will be easier to digest.

The proposed addendum to change management methods on a coastwide basis came about because the most recent stock assessment revealed that the abundance of menhaden had declined to the lowest level on record. The age 3+ menhaden were being exploited to roughly 70% which coincides with the decline of young of the year menhaden. The conclusions were that the stock was being overfished in the terminal year of the survey by a very small amount. When the assessment was reviewed by outside experts they concluded that the standards used to determine stock sustainability were not appropriate, and new standards should be determined. They pointed to the fact that the breeding stock (age 3+) was only about 10% of an unfished population where forage fish, as a rule, should be at least 40%. The proposed addendum recognizes this imbalance and proposes a limit of no less than 15% be left in the water.

In addition, the scientists who advise the Board are suggesting that the fishery be managed to a target ranging from 20% to 40% in order to achieve the goal on increased abundance. These changes are being considered as an interim step until an ecosystem based management system could be developed and implemented. Some thought this might be possible in a few years. Others feel that this could not be expected for 7 to 10 years, consequently the steps taken now are important.

Here is some food for thought. It is now generally accepted that the present program doesn’t work and change is necessary. The only way the desired change can occur is by reducing the harvest. Presumably this will affect both the bait and reduction industries. Currently they are both largely unregulated in  that there is no coastwide acceptable catch limit, although most states no longer permit purse seining for reduction purposes in their state waters. There are no regulations of any kind in the EEZ (3 miles to 200 miles). Generally the reduction industry catches about 80% of the menhaden while the bait industry takes the remaining 20%. From data in the stock assessment one can calculate that of the total mortality about 30% come from the directed fishery (bait and reduction) and 70% comes from predators and natural demise. Studies have shown that striped bass, in particular, are suffering from malnutrition and other species are reduced in numbers where the preferred food supply is menhaden, when available. Apparently the bait industry is only about 6% of total mortality and is also an irreplaceable function, whereas reduction is not indispensable.

Read the full article at Save Menhaden.

Analysis: Contrary to the article's assertions, the reduction fishery is not currently leading to an overfished menhaden population or is threatening the recruitment of future menhaden. The article is correct in stating that in 2008, the ASMFC concluded the menhaden population had experienced overfishing. However, it was the only time in the past ten years that overfishing had occured. Furthermore, the ASMFC concluded that menhaden were not overfished. They also concluded that the menhaden population is currently meeting its fecundity target, meaning that current levels of fishing are not threatening recruitment.

August 10, 2011 — The following was released from Omega Protein:

Reedville, Virginia – Omega Protein followed the proceedings of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) very closely and was pleased with the outcome of its Menhaden Management Board meeting on August 2, 2011. The company strongly supported the Board’s decision not to deviate from its normal procedure.  The Board correctly chose to take a deliberate approach to development of a wholly new management system.

In doing so, the Board heeded the concerns of Omega Protein and over 40 other menhaden industry stakeholders.  Following longstanding ASMFC procedures, the Board recognized it should not rush into a rule-making measure simply to satisfy the politically-driven desires of recreational and environmental advocates. The Board had been asked to develop and adopt an entirely new management plan from scratch in a matter of months. In other fisheries, this process takes years of in-depth consideration.

The Board also reacted sensibly to the universal pleas by the menhaden fishing industry, as well as from environmentalists and recreational anglers, for additional public comment. The Board’s deliberations have so far been developed in a vacuum, and this will allow for there to be greater input from stakeholders.

The menhaden fishery is already subject to a pre-existing interstate fishery management plan, and the menhaden stock is not overfished.  Ideas for a new management plan are still in their early stages and a lot of work needs to occur before the Board sets more detailed fishing requirements for menhaden-dependent businesses in at least nine Atlantic seaboard states.  

Further, during the coming months and into 2012, essential new data will be available to the ASMFC fisheries biologists and managers, such as results from the industry-sponsored University of New England aerial survey of menhaden in the New England region, the updates to the 2008-2011 juvenile abundance indices, and, at least initial results of the new stock assessment, which will be undertaken in the late summer or early fall of 2012.

As always, Omega Protein is supportive of any fisheries management process that utilizes the best available science, complies with ASMFC decision making standards, recognizes the need to balance conservation with the economic survival of historic fishing communities, and results in a fair and equitable, scientifically-based management system for all members of the menhaden fishing industry.

Read the complete document released by Omega Protein

 

 

 

 

 

Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board has approved Draft Addendum V to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes establishing a new interim fishing mortality threshold and target (based on maximum spawning potential or MSP) with the goal of increasing abundance, spawning stock biomass, and menhaden availability as a forage species.

 

The Draft Addendum will also initiate the scoping process (comparable to that of a Public Information Document) on the suite of management tools that could be used to implement the new fishing mortality threshold and target levels. As in a PID, it will contain preliminary discussions of biological, environmental, social, and economic information, fishery issues, and potential management options for action through an addendum.

The MSP approach, as recommended by the 2009 peer review panel, identifies the fishing mortality rate necessary to maintain a given level of stock fecundity (number of mature ova) relative to the potential maximum stock fecundity under unfished conditions. The Draft Addendum presents two options for the new interim fishing mortality threshold (status quo based on an MSP of 8% and an MSP of 15%) and four options for the interim fishing mortality target (status quo and F based on MSPs of 20, 30 and 40%). For illustration purposes, a 15% MSP would equate to a fishing mortality rate threshold required to maintain approximately 15% of virgin stock fecundity. The current MSP level is 8%.

Based on the revised 2009 Atlantic menhaden stock assessment, menhaden was not overfished but had experienced overfishing in 2008. Given the current overfishing definition, which sets the fishing mortality rate (F) target at 0.96 and the F threshold at 2.2, this is the first time overfishing has occurred since 1998. Over the time series, overfishing had occurred in 32 of the last 54 years. F in 2008 (the latest year in the assessment) is estimated at 2.28.

Read the full ASMFC release here.

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.

 

 

 

 

At the last meeting of the Menhaden Management Board, the commissioners directed a Plan Development Team be assembled whose mission would be to create a draft addendum to the present plan. The new plan would be based on the agreed upon goal of increasing the menhaden breeding stock to the equivalent of 15% of an unfished stock from its present level of +/- 8%.

The team is composed of members who are diversified geographically as well as professionally. Their proposed plan consists of two segments, the technical (fishery biology) side and a section on social/economic issues.

The technical side of the document is extensive and detailed. Based on the concept of a 15% maximum spawning potential as a threshold measure, the plan lays out the use of a target to which the fishery is to be managed. The threshold becomes a mandatory action point to reduce harvest to obtain the target level of landings if they ever exceeded the threshold limit. For this method to be successful, the target must be more conservative (smaller catch) than the threshold by a statistically significant amount. The team proposed a range of targets, from 20% to 40%. The breadth of the range recognizes the degree of uncertainty encountered in the inputs to the computer model which calculates effects. One of the major factors is estimating the change in natural mortality resulting from more forage available to predators. Given the fact that predators are currently considered under fed at present stock levels, the wide range is not unexpected. The Board will have to determine the extent of conservatism they wish to employ. The draft document outlines a host of tools the Board would have available to effect the reduction in harvest that would be required to achieve the goal. The Plan Development Team seems to favor a hard cap as the best method of control. They also note the need for improved monitoring/reporting to make any of the available methods work, primarily in the bait segment of the landings. So, on the technical side the work seems to be complete and realistic.

The second point of controversy has to do with the description of effects on the reduction industry. The document cites the predominate negative effect on jobs would be borne by “ the least skilled ,least educated, marginally employed and poorest sections of the affected communities.” Such an analysis doesn’t seem reasonable in an economic sense. First, if volume of business decreases one normally decreases the acquisition of raw materials to balance demand. In this business that would be accomplished by reducing the number of vessels utilized to supply the factory. Affected would be the crews on the vessels who are skilled and their wage scale is much higher than the wage scale in the factory .In addition there is not much known about the degree of automation employed in the factory. It may be that a reduction in throughput does not necessarily translate to a similar reduction in the labor force. So in essence, reductions could be made in that segment of the work force that is directly variable with volume and at the same time the average labor cost is decreased by reductions in the most costly element. All in all the social /economic portion of this document seems to portray an emotional response rather than an accurate picture of probable effects. Given the fact that decisions will be made on both technical and economic outputs, the economic aspects of this document should be treated with considerable skepticism.

Read the whole article at tidalfish.com

Analysis: While the article alleges otherwise, menhaden landings in Reedville are critically important to the health of the regional economy. Reedville is the third largest port in the US based on volume of landings, a number that is almost entirely attributable to the menhaden reduction industry. Significantly reducing the amount of landings affects not just the fishing fleet, but the regional economy that depends on the menhaden landings for the health of the port.

 

 

 

 

Omega Protein issued the following press release regarding the actions of the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission on the menhaden fishery.

ALEXANDRIA, VA — May 5, 2010 — PRNewswire via COMTEX — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission ("ASFMC") today received the results of the latest Stock Assessment Workshop for Atlantic menhaden at the Menhaden Board meeting in Alexandria, Virginia. Consistent with the prior two ASMFC stock assessments reports in 2003 and 2006, the new report concludes that the Atlantic menhaden stock is not overfished and that overfishing is not occurring. A review panel of independent experts concurred in these findings. The Company believes that these results demonstrate that the Atlantic menhaden is abundant and continues to be harvested at sustainable rates.

"The findings of this stock assessment validate that Omega Protein and other menhaden fishermen have been fishing in a manner that does not negatively impact the sustainability of the menhaden fishery," said Omega Protein Senior Fisheries Biologist Ron Lukens. He added, "We believe that the menhaden fishery should continue to be managed based on the best available science and not conjecture, speculation and innuendo." Lukens also noted that the assessment did not take into account any data from 2009, which is thought to show a strong year class of young menhaden.

An important finding from the external review panel was that the assessment results are consistent with a single, coast-wide stock of menhaden and not a localized sub-stock as some have speculated. The panel's report concluded that assessing the stock at a sub-regional level (i.e. only in the Chesapeake Bay) "would be meaningless from a biological point of view" and "would be of no use in making sensible management decisions" and that setting sub regional quotas "could not sensibly be done by conducting sub regional assessments (and setting sub regional quotas on the basis of the assessments)." Although some activists have called for separate management of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, the Company believes that the current report confirms other studies from prior years showing that Atlantic menhaden are part of a single coast-wide stock that ranges along the entire coast from Florida to Maine.

A copy of the summary stock assessment report is available here

About Omega Protein

Omega Protein Corporation is the nation's largest manufacturer of heart-healthy fish oils containing Omega-3 fatty acids for human consumption, as well as specialty fish meals and fish oil used as value-added ingredients in aquaculture, swine and other livestock feeds. Omega Protein makes its products from menhaden, an Omega-3 rich fish that is not currently utilized as seafood, but which is abundantly available along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coasts.