Conservation & Environment

November 6, 2012 — Some environmentalists are upset that federal regulators continue to set sardine catch limits they say are too high given the declining population.

The controversy is the latest episode in an ongoing debate about management of fish that make up much of the ocean's food base, including sardines, anchovies, squid and more. Monterey-based Oceana, which has an ongoing suit against the government over management of so-called forage fish, said Sunday's decision could hold back sardines' eventual rebound.

"They're fishing the population too hard when it's low," said Geoff Shester, Oceana's California program director. "When you fish it when it's down, you prolong the recovery. … I don't think it's going to come back until we really overhaul the formula that they're using."

Meeting in Costa Mesa, the Pacific Fishery Management Council set the West Coast catch limits at 66,495 metric tons. What upsets Oceana is that parts of that formula used to come up with that number will be considered Wednesday, when the council begins the process of looking at aspects of its fishery management program.

Wednesday is also the day when the state Fish and Game Commission meets in Los Angeles to possibly adopt its own forage fish management policy, which includes consideration a fishery's impact on marine ecosystems, something environmentalists have long sought.

Overall, sardine assessments have been on a decline for several years.

 

Read the full story at the San Jose Mercury News

 

 

October 29, 2012 — The following is an excerpt from a recent story published by Earth Justice:

Something very unusual happened at the November 2011 meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The audience broke into applause for what the commisioners did.

They stood up for a fish that H. Bruce Franklin at Rutgers University called “The Most Important Fish in the Sea”—the Atlantic menhaden.

The menhaden is not a lovable, or famous fish. As Franklin describes it:

Not one of these fish is destined for a supermarket, a canning factory, or restaurant. Menhaden are oily, foul smelling, and packed with tiny bones. No one eats them—not directly, anyhow. Hardly anyone has even heard of them except for those who fish or study our eastern and southern waters.

Read the full story on Earth Justice 

Analysis: A recent article, “Speak Up for the “Most Important Fish in the Sea”’ published by Brian Smith in Earth Justice, encourages readers to speak out for Atlantic menhaden. Unfortunately, the article relies on misleading statements and claims about the menhaden fishery, which have been continually spread by petitions and features written by environmental organizations.

The article’s claim that menhaden biomass has declined 90 percent in 25 years is a selective representation of the health of the menhaden stock, because it does not examine the whole time series of available data. The length of time cited in the article (the last 25 years) begins during a period (the early-to-mid 1980s) when menhaden biomass was particularly high. Over the 50-plus years that data on menhaden biomass has been recorded by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), biomass has fluctuated based on the strength of menhaden recruitment (the number of menhaden that are born), and current biomass figures are similar to the levels seen in the late 1960s, when biomass was lower. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, several years saw especially strong recruitment, which were followed by years of high biomass. The decline that the article cites is part of an alternating cycle of strong and weak recruitment.

In reference to menhaden, the article uses the phrase “the most important fish in the sea,” which is frequently used without proper explanation. Originating from Rutgers University English Professor, Dr. H. Bruce Franklin’s book, The Most Important Fish in the Sea, the phrase stems from entirely qualitative judgments made by the author that lack scientific founding. There is no scientific evidence supporting the hyperbolic statement that any one species of fish is "most important," and promulgating this idea represents only Dr. Franklin’s opinion, rather than any scientific consensus.

The author’s Earth Justice biography states “Brian's wife Susan is a hospital chaplain and when they say goodbye in the morning, she says, "Save the planet." He replies, "Save the people."Unfortunately, Mr. Smith does not feel a need to “save the people” who earn their livelihoods in the menhaden fishery. A recent economic impact study conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science highlighted the importance of the reduction industry to its home in the Northern Neck of Virginia: the reduction fishery employs almost 300 people directly, and many more indirectly, and contributes more than $80 million in economic output to this area. By using misleading claims and promoting drastic cuts to the menhaden fishery, this article ultimately endangers the welfare of hard working communities along the Atlantic Coast who depend on this vital industry. 

 

 

November 6, 2012 — Today is the day to let your voice be heard in support of measures to rebuild overfished menhaden all along the Atlantic coast. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is now accepting public comment – through November 16th – on Amendment 2 to its Interstate Menhaden Plan, which covers fishing from Maine to Florida.

The amendment includes long-promised catch reductions for the industrial reduction fishery, limits fishermen and conservationists have been working on for years so we can restore menhaden to coastal waters to support striped bass and a myriad of other dependent predators that need this small but critically important fish to survive.

Read the full petition here

Analysis: While the National Council for Marine Conservation makes several references to menhaden as being overfished, the best available scientific data says otherwise. According to the 2010 menhaden stock assessment, the last assessment considered to be reliable, menhaden are not currently overfished. This means that, according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the stock is producing enough eggs to sustain itself. Overfishing, where the number of menhaden caught exceeds the mortality rate determined by the ASMFC, occurred only twice in the 15 years between 1993 and 2008. In 2011, the Commission adopted a new, more conservative baseline for determining overfishing going forward. Based on that new “reference point,” the Menhaden Board determined that overfishing also occurred in 2011 based on harvest increases, the new reference point, and apparent lack of stock growth. Due to adoption of the new reference point and model uncertainty, no overfishing determinations have been made for 2009 and 2010.

 

 

November 4, 2012 — P.E.I.'s lobsters are starting the molting process earlier than usual because of the warm weather, fishermen say.

Ian MacPherson of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association says the high water temperature is causing some lobsters to shed their shells ahead of schedule.

"This year we saw things happen at different time periods that haven't historically happened, so it's something that the fishing community's keeping a very close eye on," he said.

MacPherson said he has heard from several Island lobster fishermen who are concerned the molting is affecting the product they are selling.

MacPherson said fishermen will discuss changing the lobster season because of that.

"[We're] making sure that if we make changes down the way that they're in step with the changing environmental conditions," he said.'

 

Read the full story on CBC News 

 

 

October 24, 2012 — The following is an excerpt for the Marine Fish Conservation Network's FishHQ blog.

It’s crunch-time in the years-long battle to save what many people call the most important fish in the sea: Atlantic menhaden.

Anecdotal accounts of this odd oily fish indicate that they once swarmed up and down the east coast in huge schools and in numbers unimaginable to us today. Even more recently, scientific studies have shown that menhaden have declined 86% in the last 25 years, and that they have been exploited at too high a rate for at least 50 years. Half a century!

These fish used to be the main food for dozens of popular food and game fish like striper and bluefish. They’re not widely know as good eatin’, although I have a neighbor named Cornbread who swears by menhaden and mayonnaise sandwiches. No joke. He says everybody used to eat them because they were so abundant and easy to catch.  Cornbread’s culinary proclivities aside, these forage fish are an integral part of the marine ecosystem, transforming the plants they eat into a moving fish feast.

So what’s the problem, you ask? Well, the problem is that Cornbread can’t go out and catch the filling for his sandwiches like he used to. And more importantly, critical recreational populations like stripers are being starved by menhaden’s declining numbers. Or to answer the question in another way, the problem is big, it’s powerful, and it has a name: it’s Omega Protein Inc.

Omega and its shareholders make a lot of money turning menhaden into lipstick, swine feed, and fish oil. For years, as recreational fishermen and local communities observed signs to the contrary, Omega claimed that the fishery was in fabulous shape. So, no regulations necessary, right?  When a 2010 assessment once again proved their optimism to be unfounded, Omega wasn’t about to realign their business operations to the reality on the water. Instead, they hired scientists and lobbyists to influence, cajole, and filibuster the science-based management process.

But something inspiring has happened in response. A grassroots movement led by recreational anglers has emerged, opposing Omega’s efforts to dictate the management of menhaden to serve its own ends. Fishermen from all over the country have led a massive push to return the menhaden fishery to a sustainable level, while also accounting for the needs of predator species like striped bass.

Read the full story at FishHQ

Analysis: In a recent post on the Marine Fish Conservation Network’s FishHQ blog, Sera Drevenak relied on information provided by organizations other than her own, resulting in the inclusion of several misleading statistics in her article, “Menhaden’s moment of truth.” By relying on these statistics, the posting leaves the reader with an inaccurate characterization of the menhaden fishery.

The posting claims “scientific studies have shown that menhaden have declined 86% in the last 25 years, and that they have been exploited at too high a rate for at least 50 years.” The claim, frequently repeated elsewhere, that the menhaden population has decreased by almost 90 percent over the last quarter-century is based on a selective reading of menhaden biomass statistics; it misses the fluctuations in menhaden biomass that have occurred over the 50-plus years of available data.

These fluctuations are based on the strength of menhaden recruitment (the number of menhaden that are born), which will vary from year to year and is influenced by a number of factors, perhaps most importantly environmental conditions. The beginning of the period cited, the early 1980s, was a period of strong menhaden recruitment influenced by favorable environmental conditions, leading to high biomass. Since the early 1980s, environmental conditions have been much less favorable, resulting in lower recruitment and subsequently lower biomass. Fluctuations in environmental conditions lead to fluctuations in recruitment, which is reflected in the available data on the fishery: periods of high recruitment, like the late 1970s and early 1980s, are followed by periods of higher biomass, while periods of low recruitment, like the mid-to-late 1960s and today, are followed by periods of lower biomass.

The relationship between menhaden and climatic and environmental conditions is recognized by NOAA, which, on its Menhaden Fact Page, states, “menhaden recruitment appears to be independent of fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass, indicating environmental factors may be the defining factor in the production of good year classes.” The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) similarly concluded in its 2010 stock assessment that fluctuations in menhaden abundance may be “almost entirely driven by non-fishery sources.”

The blog post similarly exaggerates when with the statement, “Omega claimed that the fishery was in fabulous shape. So, no regulations necessary, right? When a 2010 assessment once again proved their optimism to be unfounded, Omega wasn’t about to realign their business operations to the reality on the water.” The 2010 menhaden assessment concluded that menhaden were experiencing overfishing, but were not overfished. This means that the fishery exceeded the mortality limit set by the ASMFC (overfishing), but that the stock’s fecundity (the number of eggs produced) was higher than the ASMFC’s threshold (overfished). Put simply, the assessment concluded that the stock was producing enough eggs to sustain itself, regardless of fishing pressure.

While overfishing did occur in the last year covered by the assessment (2008), it was slight, only .4 percent over the overfishing threshold. It was also only the second time in the last 15 years recorded by the assessment (1993-2008) that overfishing occurred. Similarly, the 2010 assessment concluded that the stock was producing eggs at almost twice the level at which the stock would be considered overfished. The picture of the fishery provided by the 2010 assessment–one where there is no recent pattern of overfishing and the stock is not overfished–is much different than the conclusions that Ms. Drevenak draws from it.

Ms. Drevenak also writes that "critical recreational populations like stripers are being starved by menhaden's declining numbers." However, this is not clearly the case given the available data on striped bass diet. Striped bass are opportunistic predators, and consume a variety of prey species depending on their availability and location. The 2010 annual report of the Chesapeake Bay Multispecies Monitoring and Assessment Program noted that bay anchovies, small crustaceans, and worms are all significant parts of the striped bass diet in addition to menhaden. Given the variety of variable nature of striped bass diets, it is not likely that they are dependent on any one single food source for survival.

All of the available data on menhaden present a situation that is much less dire than is characterized in Ms. Drevenak’s article. While menhaden remain an economically and ecologically important species, the management actions Ms. Drevenak advocates will unnecessarily impact the many people on the Chesapeake and the East Coast who depend on this vital fishery.

October 25, 2012 — A draft rule proposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration may limit public access to fisheries data collected by independent observers on fishing vessels. The agency cites protection of confidential personal and business information as the reason, but some scientists and advocates fear that such a rule will limit their ability to examine and evaluate fisheries data for research purposes.

'Our view is that they’ve gone way beyond what’s necessary to implement the confidentiality requirement,' said Lee Crockett, the director of the Pew Environment Group’s United States fisheries campaign. 'We think they should go back to the drawing board.'

Each year, NOAA spends around $40 million to finance data collection by independent observers aboard fishing vessels. They gather information on what species are caught, where they are caught and what kind of gear the vessels use. They also record information about unintentional bycatch like sea turtles, endangered sharks and bluefin tuna."

 

Read the full release from the Pew Environment Group here

 

 

October 26, 2012 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is hosting a series of workshops this fall and winter to explore mitigation measures that may be used to address use conflicts between fishing activities and offshore wind development.  A webpage for the fishing/wind BMP workshops has been posted on the BOEM website.

 It is available as a link here, or directly here.

Many industry members will be receiving invitations from BOEM or their contractor directly, but anyone who is interested is welcome to attend if there is enough space.  Please RSVP to either Elizabeth Castle (ecastle@ene.com) or Brian Hooker (Brian.Hooker@boem.gov) if you are interested in attending. BOEM is requesting RSVPs to get a head count ahead of time for planning purposes, and also so they can send briefing materials to participants before the meeting. There are some travel funds available for mileage reimbursement, particularly for industry members.

Here is the current list of locations and dates:

– Kingston, RI – November 16, 2012 – 4:00 – 8:00 pm – University of Rhode Island – Graduate School of Oceanography

– Osterville, MA – December 4, 2012 – 4:00 – 8:00 pm – Osterville Village Library

– New Bedford, MA – December 5, 2012 – 4:00 – 8:00 pm – Fairfield Inn and Suites

– Ocean City, MD – January 11, 2013 – 2:00 – 6:00 pm – Ocean Pines Library

– Morehead City, NC – January 22, 2013 – 1:00 – 5:00 pm – Morehead City Train Depot

– Atlantic City, NJ – February 6, 2013 – 1:00 – 5:00 pm – location TBD

– Maine – March 2013 – time and location TBD

 

 

October 18, 2012 — For centuries, probably millennia, the small, oily fish known as Atlantic menhaden have been the protein-filled food of choice for striped bass and many other large species in our waters. Fishermen call them pogeys or bunker, often using them as bait to entice stripers to their lines. Menhaden were once so abundant that early Americans spoke of them swimming in schools upwards of 25 miles long. Today, more menhaden are pulled from the sea — between a quarter and half a billion pounds a year — than any other fish in the continental U.S., primarily to be ground up into fish meal for aquaculture and fish oil for vitamin supplements.

Eighty per cent of those menhaden are netted by a single Virginia-based company, Omega Protein, the last of the “reduction industry” fleet. And the toll has been huge. Since 1983, the fish’s numbers have declined by a staggering 88 per cent.

Which means that the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, where menhaden play a crucial role as a filter feeder on algae, is suffering. And that increasing numbers of emaciated and bacterially-diseased striped bass are going hungry. And that bait fishermen, who provide menhaden for lobster pots and anglers, are hurting economically.

That’s the message being sounded at a series of public hearings currently being held in states across the Eastern seaboard, leading toward a Dec. 14 meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) where stronger regulations on the allowable catch of menhaden are finally being considered. On Tuesday night in Bourne, some 30 residents came to voice their concerns and listen to Massachusetts fisheries officials describe “a sense of urgency.” This was somewhat heartening, considering that the ASMFC has long resisted taking any action that would affect Omega Protein’s bottom line.

Unfortunately, the options on the table didn’t include any area closures to protect menhaden during their spawning season. All who spoke at the hearing agreed that better monitoring is needed of what’s been called the most important fish in the sea. But the ASMFC’s scientific number-crunchers, who admit that overfishing is occurring, still won’t come out and state flatly that the menhaden are definitely being overfished. They say they’re uncertain of the data in their latest stock assessment model, thus making recommendations of specific catch reductions problematic in achieving their “rebuilding targets.”

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

Analysis: In his  op-ed, “Menhaden Harvest as Fish Oil Jeopardizes Ocean Food Chain,” Striper Wars author, Dick Russell, writes that “menhaden are in such dire straights as to threaten the future of the entire Atlantic ecosystem.” Mr. Russell reaches this conclusion through the selective editing of the most currently available scientific information on menhaden. Considering all of the available evidence reveals a significantly different picture that is much less extreme than Mr. Russell’s alarmist portrayal.

When Mr. Russell writes that, “since 1983, the fish’s numbers have declined by a staggering 88 percent,” he fails to provide adequate context for this statistic. Because Mr. Russell starts to chart the decline in 1983, he misses the fluctuations in menhaden biomass that have occurred over the 50-plus years of available data. These fluctuations are based on the strength of menhaden recruitment (the number of menhaden that are born), with current biomass levels similar to those seen in the late 1960s, when biomass was lower. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw several years of especially strong recruitment, followed by years of high biomass.

The decline that Mr. Russell cites is part of an alternating cycle of strong and weak recruitment, which is heavily influenced by environmental factors. The relationship between menhaden and climate is recognized by NOAA, which, on its Menhaden Fact Page, states, “menhaden recruitment appears to be independent of fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass, indicating environmental factors may be the defining factor in the production of good year classes.” The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) similarly concluded in its 2010 stock assessment that fluctuations in menhaden abundance may be “almost entirely driven by non-fishery sources.”

Similarly, writing that the ASMFC “still won’t come out and state flatly that menhaden are definitely being overfished” sidesteps an important debate over the current menhaden science. Menhaden are not currently considered overfished by the ASMFC, as concluded in both the 2010 and 2012 assessments. However, not much else is clear about the exact status of the stock, due to widely recognized flaws with the 2012 assessment. These flaws include routine overestimations of fishing mortality and underestimations of population size. The flaws were so severe that the ASMFC’s Menhaden Technical Committee rejected the 2012 assessment as unfit for management advice. During the ongoing ASMFC public comment sessions on menhaden, it is important for the public to recognize that the exact status of the menhaden stock is unknown, with the last reliable data on the fishery collected in 2008 for the 2010 assessment.

Mr. Russell also overstates the ecological role of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, claiming that, because of menhaden’s “crucial role as a filter feeder on algae,” commercial fishing of menhaden is harming the Bay’s ecosystem. However, recent studies have called that role into question. In a 2010 study, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at the College of William and Mary concluded that menhaden, rather than feeding on algae, feed mostly on zooplankton, and that their contribution to improving water quality is negligible.

Mr. Russell advocates for steep and immediate cuts in the commercial menhaden catch. However, given the lack of current data on the fishery, as well as the conclusion by the last reliable assessment that menhaden are not overfished, this prescription would have unclear benefits for conservation, while inflicting measurable harm on the reduction fishery, which provides over 300 jobs and $80 million in economic output, as well as the bait fishery, which is a significant source of bait for lobstermen in Maine and other New England fisheries.

 

 

October 23, 2012 — A recent statement to the California Fish and Game Commission drafted by Audubon California, Earthjustice and Oceana sounded alarms over declining Pacific herring stocks in near shore California waters. The paper also decried declines in two other small marine fishes — anchovies and sardines.

Why such a big fuss over such tiny fish? As well as constituting the basis for idiosyncratic pizzas, sandwiches, and hors d'oeuvres, these three fish are critical forage for a great number of other marine species, including seabirds, whales, seals and sea lions, and valuable food fishes including salmon, lingcod and rockfish.

Herring, in particular, are crucial links in the marine food web. Both the fish and their roe (deposited on kelp and rocks during spawning events) are staples for several species of birds, particularly sea ducks. They are also consumed by the kiloton by marine mammals.

Pacific herring also support a small commercial fishery — the roe is highly esteemed in Japan, and can fetch high prices. The pressure on the fish, apparently, is unsustainable. The paper notes that the stocks are "truncating" in age structure, meaning that older, larger fish — the prime breeders — are getting scarce; that the herring biomass in general is dwindling; and that no effective management plan exists for herring stocks.

Pacific herring don't exist in a vacuum, of course, and their decline bodes ill indeed for California's marine biome: as herring go, so go the myriad species that depend on herring. Clearly, something needs to be done. The signatories to the paper have some ideas, focusing mainly on restricting the state's already beleaguered commercial fishery. This may well be necessary, for the simple fact that it is one of the few things that can be done; options are limited.

It's highly unlikely, however, that limiting the commercial fishery will be enough. Why? Lots of things eat herring, but some things eat way more herring than everything else. I'm speaking specifically of California sea lions. The paper notes that the U.S. population of California sea lions increased 6.5 percent annually from 1983 -2003, and that almost 250,000 of these large pinnipeds are now disporting off the coast of western North America.

California's Central Coast (roughly from Big Sur to Ano Nuevo Island north of Santa Cruz) now supports about 18,000 California sea lions. This population alone consumes 8 to 10 percent of the region's herring biomass. California's coast also supports a robust population of harbor seals — roughly 35,000 of them. They, too, are voracious consumers of herring.

These two species are the piscine equivalent of the elephant in the room that nobody is talking about. Certainly, no researcher or administrator from Audubon, EarthJustice, or Oceana — or any other environmental group — will state the obvious: a truly effective herring management plan would call for local culls of California sea lions, and perhaps harbor seals as well. That's understandable. The idea of killing seals and sea lions for any reason is — from a PR perspective — radioactive.

 

Read the full story in the Huffington Post