Conservation & Environment

Just a few weeks ago, in an historic vote, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) decided it was time to set new standards for how it manages menhaden, an essential fish to the entire coastal ecosystem. But due to overfishing in 32 of the past 54 years, menhaden’s population had fallen to a mere 8 percent of what it once was–its lowest point on record!

After thousands of letters and e-mails (including 1,036 from CBF advocates) as well as comments at public ASMFC hearings, it became clear just how important this fish is not only to our waters, but to the human community it supports.

Bill Goldsborough, CBF’s Director of Fisheries and ASMFC Commissioner, fought for years for the protection of this fish, which up until now had hardly been managed at all. His persistence was instrumental in bringing about this landmark decision to establish a healthy population of menhaden for all of us. Check out the video above for Goldsborough's reactions to the vote just moments after it happened.

Read the article at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Analysis: The article is misleading when it claims the menhaden population is "8 percent of what it once was." The figure refers to menhaden's Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP) which is an estimate of a theoretical unfished population, and not an historical measurement. Mehaden are fished to around 8 percent MSP, but that alone does not indicate overfishing: menhaden have historically been able to rebuild their population at that level, and the stock is not currently considered overfished by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Most folks know that the ASMFC’s Menhaden Board has finally taken action to begin the process of restoring the menhaden population.

The objectives are stated in two forms. One, a “threshold” or limit where if mortality has exceeded the anticipated level action to meet the objective of 15% of the mature stock left in the water must be taken. To make this goal achievable, a target equal to 30% left in the water was established. To achieve the target a reduction in harvest of 37% would be required using the 2010 harvest as a base. Reductions would apply to total landings which would impact both the bait and reduction industries. Currently the reduction industry takes +/- 80% of the harvest (all landings in Virginia) while the bait harvest takes up the other 20% up and down the Atlantic Seaboard While the objectives were clearly stated in Board action, a commitment to manage to the target was not. The implication is that this issue would be addressed in upcoming sessions where the methods to be employed to achieve these goals will be decided.

The business of allocating the allowable catch among the various interests will be difficult at best. For the first time it will be necessary to restrict income production from various business enterprises from a family operated pound net to Omega’s very sophisticated fishing and processing activities. It will become a pocketbook issue where all will suffer some, some more than others. There are no directives that specify that all participants would be curtailed equally, the Board has complete latitude in how they apportion the allowable catch if quota is the chosen method for management of the harvest. This immediately raises the concerns about jobs disappearing; how many and whose?

One of the documents which was produced just in advance of the November 9 meeting was the long awaited Economic Study by VIMS. This document contained some 226 pages. Given the timing, it is unlikely that the Commissioners paid much attention to its contents. The study covered only the area surrounding the Chesapeake Bay although decisions regarding menhaden are coastwide. The authors frankly admitted that a coastal evaluation was not feasible. Some of the data contained indicate that Omega’s sale volume has increased appreciably to $ 60,000,000, due for the most part to an increasing market for fish meal products without a commensurate increase in availability leading to rapidly increasing prices. Employment at Reedville was steady at 300 during peak periods. Seasonal labor is a significant factor as the data indicates roughly 100 employees during the slack season. Some of the other data in this voluminous document are quite interesting. One of the tables indicates that if total reduction harvest was limited to 81,000 metric tons the plant would be at break even. From an average harvest of 141,000 metric tons a cut of 40% would be required to put total employment in jeopardy. While reductions of as much as 37% from 2010 harvest of 183,000 metric tons have been calculated, it does appears, if the data is accurate, that severe reductions would in fact take place but the claim of 300 jobs does not seem valid. It could be that the issue of jobs and impact on the surrounding area is considerably less important than the loss of profit at the corporate level. A large portion of the study examines how people value fish left in the water versus employment at Reedville. I’ve really got to study this in more depth to see if such an evaluation is likely to accurately predict how people would react if given all the pertinent information .

Read the article at Save Menhaden.

For well over a century, commercial and recreational anglers have argued about menhaden harvesting. In the past few decades, however, conservationists who may or may not be anglers have also entered the fray, advocating for tighter controls on harvesting. The battle lines have been drawn between conservationists and recreational anglers on the one hand, who see commercial anglers as greedy and malevolent despoilers of our natural resources, and commercial anglers on the other hand, who argue that while others are out fishing for fun, they're working these resources to provide for their families.

Once upon a time the East Coast menhaden industry was very strong, outstripping even the commercial whaling industry. More than 150 processing plants dotted the Eastern seaboard, with more than a dozen in the state of Maine alone. Docks were filled with millions of tons of menhaden that, when sold, catapulted the coastal towns that housed them to prosperity. Times have certainly changed: Now just one East Coast plant still operates. Houston-based Omega Protein, which has another processing center in Louisiana, is the largest harvester of menhaden in North America and is viewed by many as the prime culprit in dwindling menhaden stocks. Their East Coast fleet of nine ships, some of which can hold a million menhaden at a time, are a common sight in the Chesapeake Bay. The ships work closely with their spotter planes to find, harvest, and then deliver menhaden to their processing plant in Reedville, Virginia. The plant employs about 300 workers and processes millions of pounds of menhaden each season, turning the oily baitfish into industrial products like lubricants, heart-healthy food supplements, pet food, and, ironically, commercial fish food. The company?s industrial fishing fleet accounts for about 80 percent of the menhaden harvested on the East Coast.

The remaining 20 percent of menhaden is harvested commercially by much smaller independent operators like Lund Seafood in Cape May, New Jersey, which fishes for a variety of species and then sells those fish to customers along the East Coast. Ocean Bait Inc. of Weems, Virginia, is an even smaller commercial operator that sells all its fish to a single wholesaler, which in turn distributes the fish to points south. Occasionally packing limitations prevent Ocean Bait from processing all of the menhaden it catches, in which case it sells what is left over to Omega Protein. Most of the menhaden caught by smaller commercial anglers end up as bait for crabbers, lobstermen, and of course bait and tackle shops, which eventually resell to recreational anglers.

For many years conservationists, recreational anglers, and commercial fishermen have argued over just how many menhaden need to be left in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding area. Humans don?t eat menhaden, but just about everything else in the ocean does. Also known as bunker, pogie, and fatback, menhaden are a prime target for predator species and are crucial to the survival and health of other marine life like crabs, lobsters, ospreys, and even loons. (Menhaden, by the way, aren?t the only forage fish fly anglers should care about: Popular gamefish like trout, stripers, and bass eat spring runs of river herring and shad once they enter their natal rivers to spawn. Unfortunately, these river herring are also seeing their numbers decline precipitously.)

Read the full article at Save Menhaden.

Analysis:  The article is misleading when it says the menhaden population is "8 percent of its historical size." That estimate refers to menhaden's Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is an estimate of the size of a theoretical unfished population, not an historical measurement. Menhaden are fished to around 8 perent of their MSP, but this is not a sign that they are overfished; the population has historically been able to rebuild at that level, and MSP is poorly correlated with menhaden recruitment.

It is also important to note that the stock is not currently overfished. In its 2010 stock assessment, the ASMFC concluded that overfishing did occur in 2008. However, this was not enough for the ASMFC to declare the fishery overfished; the overfishing in 2008 only slightly exceeded the mortality threshold, and egg production in the fishery was still at target levels. This was the only time in the last ten years that the population had experienced overfishing.

BOSTON, MASS. — At one time, a little fish called menhaden was so plentiful that schools of them would cover a square half-mile of ocean, providing a bounty for the predator fish that leapt among them.

Terry Gibson, a charter boat operator in Florida, recalled the scene from his childhood. Nowadays, he said, schools of menhaden might fill 20 or 30 square yards — if that.

“Kids now think that that’s a big school of menhaden. It’s not,” he said. “It’s a story that’s played out from Maine to Key West. They’re disappearing.”

Gibson was one of the speakers during a telephone conference earlier this month, regarding the management of the menhaden fishery. The teleconference was held in conjunction with the latest meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which subsequently approved new management measures aimed at boosting the abundance of menhaden and its spawning stock biomass.

The measure came in the form of Addendum V to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden.

According to a press release from the ASMFC, the new measure will result in harvest reduction. Just how much of a reduction is involved has not yet been worked out, the release said.

According to the ASMFC, overfishing of menhaden is occurring.

According to a press release from the Pew Environment Group, which hosted the teleconference, menhaden is often called “the most important fish in the sea.”

Read the full article at the Bar Harbor Times.

Analysis: The article is not entirely correct in saying that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) says overfishing is occurring. It is true that, in its 2010 stock assessment, the ASMFC concluded that overfishing did occur in 2008. However, this was not enough for the ASMFC to declare the fishery overfished; the overfishing in 2008 only slightly exceeded the mortality threshold, and egg production in the fishery was still at target levels.

Also misleading is the quote that the menhaden population is at "10 percent of what it was historically." That estimate refers to menhaden's Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is an estimate of the size of a theoretical unfished population, not an historical measurement. Menhaden are fished to around 10 perent of their MSP, but this is not a sign that they are overfished; the population has historically been able to rebuild at that level, and MSP is poorly correlated with menhaden recruitment.

The article also overestimates menhaden's role as a filter feeder. Recent studies have found that menhaden have little impact on overall water quality.

 

 

Can the Atlantic coast's menhaden population be restored without hurting Chesapeake Bay commercial fishermen?

That remains to be seen, as the video above makes clear. It was produced by students in the environmental law class at University of Maryland law school.  Yup, that law school – the one in the crosshairs for the Clean Water Act lawsuit filed by its environmental law clinic against an Eastern Shore farm couple and the Perdue poultry company. The clinic's catching hell for not representing the farm couple as well as – or instead of – the Waterkeeper Alliance, the client for whom it filed the suit.

On this issue, the students' video does a good job of presenting both sides – the argument for conserving, and the concern about how a catch reduction could hurt Bay fishermen and crabbers. Of course, the class video project is an academic exercise, so you would expect the students to examine all sides in a dispute. In the real world in which the clinic operates, lawyers represent one client at a time, and can't ethically work both sides of a case.

Read the article and watch the video at the Baltimore Sun.

Analysis: The video overstates menhaden's role as filter feeders and their ability to consume phytoplankton. Several studies have determined that menhaden over the age of 1, which are those harvested by the bait and reduction fisheries, mostly eat the larger zooplankton, rather than phytoplankton. These studies show that while menhaden may consume some available phytoplankton, the species as a whole has a negligible net impact on water quality.

 

A conservation advocacy group hopes to persuade many more of Maine's groundfishermen to join a program which it says is designed to help secure sustainable fish populations and fishing communities. And, as Tom Porter reports, it hopes to do this be offering them more fish to catch.

The Nature Conservancy in Maine, which is based in Brunswick, began the week by announcing the purchase of a new federal groundfish permit to be made available to fishermen in the Port Clyde Sector: This stretches from mid-coast Maine down to Biddeford and includes about 25 boats. That's about 40 percent of all Maine groundfishing activity.

The non-profit first got into the business of permit-buying more than two years ago, when the new system of sector management was adopted, and already works with about 10 fishermen in Down East and Midcoast Maine.

It offers them access to more fish, while at the same time encouraging them to engage in what Geoffrey Smith calls collaborative research projects, to help develop new fishing methods. Smith is marine program director at the Nature Conservancy in Maine.

Read or listen to the complete story from the MPBN.

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal analysis shows that last year's BP oil spill probably won't push the troubled bluefin tuna population in the Gulf of Mexico population over the edge as some scientists had worried.

Scientists had been most concerned about how the oil spill would harm an already overfished species of large tuna. That's because satellite records show that about one-fifth of the spawning habitat where the Gulf's baby tuna were living was coated with oil. Tuna less than a year old are most vulnerable to pollution.

Read the complete story by The AP at Yahoo News.

 

 

 

 

 

After the Mayflower landed on Cape Cod, Tisquantum—a Native American better known as Squanto, who lived among the nearby Wompanoag tribe—taught the Pilgrims how to properly fish in Massachusetts’s estuaries. Seafood, in fact, likely played a much larger role in the first Thanksgiving feast than the fare we typically enjoy today.

But Tisquantum taught the Pilgrims another important trick: how to plant some of their catch in agricultural fields. An acre of corn also seeded with fish has been said to yield three times as many ears. So early colonists buried river herring, shad, and undoubtedly menhaden, another fish in the Culpeidae family. Rhode Island’s Narragansett Tribe called this creature munnawhatteaug: “that which manures” or “he enriches the land.” Pogy, another nickname for menhaden, comes from the Maine Abenaki Indians’ paughagen, which also means “fertilizer.”

Menhaden act as fertilizer in more ways than one. They also help more generally to absorb and broadly redistribute nutrients in the coastal ecosystem. What’s crucial is that, unlike other species in the herring family, they only eat phytoplankton. In schools an acre in size, each menhaden can filter 4 to 8 gallons of water a minute, harnessing the energy that microscopic algae gather from the sun. When they’re eaten or decompose, they pass that energy through the food web.

Since few other fish capitalize on algae so profoundly and menhaden spawn prolifically, they became extraordinarily abundant on the Atlantic Coast. Menhaden once possibly exceeded all other East Coast fish combined in weight. Their huge schools were truly an edenic vision, if there ever was one. When Captain John Smith, the founder of Jamestown, Virginia, sailed through a school of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, he told of “an aboundance of fish, lying so thicke with their heads above the water, as for want of nets (or barge driving among them) we attempted to catch them with a frying pan: but found it a bad instrument to catch fish with.”

But today, like so many other fish, the Atlantic menhaden has been overharvested. Estimated population levels have plummeted to just 10 percent of what they were historically. You’ll never find a menhaden on your plate—too bony and oily—but in the United States the fishery is second in weight only to Alaskan pollock. A company called Omega Protein harvests roughly 80 percent of the catch, which is then rendered as fertilizer, fish and livestock feed, additions to cosmetic products, and dietary supplements (since menhaden are rich in omega-3 fatty acids). The rest is used as bait in lobster and crab pots, or by non-commercial anglers who “snag” menhaden to hook on their lines in hopes of luring a bluefish or striped bass, which follow the schools.

Read the full article at the NRDC's Switchboard blog.

Analysis: The article is incorrect in claiming that menhaden are overharvested. The most recent stock assessment from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) concluded that menhaden are not currently overfished. Slight overfishing did occur in 2008, but it was the only year in the last decade where overfishing occurred and was not sufficient to declare the fishery overfished.

The article also is misleading when it claims that menhaden levels are "10 percent of what they were historically." Menhaden are currently fished to around 10 percent of their Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is an estimate of a theoretical unfished population. However, this is not by itself a sign of overfishing, as menhaden have previously been able to rebuild themselves at that level. There is also a poor correlation between MSP and menhaden recruitment.

The article also overstates menhaden's role as a fiter-feeder. While juvenile menhaden consume phytoplankton, adult menhaden consume zooplankton, and recent studies have suggested that menhaden have a negligible impact on water quality.

 

Last week, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the governing body that oversees management of fish stocks along the Atlantic coast, met in Boston and voted to reduce the harvest of Atlantic menhaden by 37 percent when new rules are implemented in 2013.

If this actually comes to pass, it will be immediately beneficial to the fish, the water quality and ultimately, all of us.

During a public comment period leading up to this meeting, nearly 92,000 opinions were heard with the vast majority in favor of reductions.

Additionally, the scientific evidence they looked at from outside sources finally demonstrated what recreational anglers and conservationists have been saying for years — that the spawning stock of menhaden were disappearing from multiple areas along the coast at an alarming rate.

This is the first time in history such a menhaden catch decrease will be required, and for now the work begins on determining exactly how to carry out the reductions.

Menhaden are bony, oily and a most unappetizing fish to humans.

However, to striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, sea turtles, osprey and other fish-eating marine mammals they are a protein-rich delicacy and a vital part of the natural food chain.

Some people even refer to them as the most important fish in the sea.

After the vote, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) said, “All of us in Maryland commend the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which today took historic action to reduce fishing pressure on menhaden. The new, more conservative fishing threshold and target are significant steps in ensuring a sustainable future for menhaden.”

The ASMFC is made up of representatives from the Atlantic coastal states and a few other federal and regional partners such as the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The official vote on this issue was 14-3. Voting against the menhaden reduction were New Jersey, Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission.

The Virginia nay vote was not unexpected, for menhaden management is quite a peculiar issue for our southern neighbor.

Read the full article at SoMdNews.com

Analysis: The article's account of Omega’s relationship with Zapata Corp. is riddled with errors, implying a current relationship between the two companies when none exists. Omega has its origins Haynie Products, Inc., a company involved in the menhaden fishery and reduction industry since the early 20th century. In 1970, they merged with Zapata Oil, with Zapata taking a 59% share of the company. The newly formed Zapata Haynie Corp. would eventually be renamed Omega Protein, and became a publicly listed company in 1998. Zapata has since divested itself of its Omega stock, giving up majority control of the company in 2006; Zapata sold its last shares in Omega in 2008, making the companies completely independent of one another.

The article also ignores the fact that, according to the most recently available scientific data, menhaden are being fished sustainably. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) 2010 stock assessment concluded that the menhaden population was not overfished, and that overfishing had only occurred once in the last decade.

Menhaden might not be a familiar fish to many, but scientists consider it a vitally important link in the Atlantic coast’s food web. These small oily fish are primarily caught by a “reduction” fishery that catches large amounts of menhaden (over 400,000 pounds last year) which is ground into fish oil, fertilizer, pet food and other industrial products.

On Wednesday, November 9, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to reduce catch by about 30 percent relative to recent average catch and began the process of managing the fishery to maintain enough menhaden in the ocean for the ecosystem.

There have been many media articles about the decision. We’ve asked Jud Crawford, science and policy manager for the Pew Environment Group (which, along with other environmental and fishing groups, as well as scientists, encouraged the Commission to adopt these new measures) to help us understand the significance of the decision and what it means for the future.

TalkingFish.org:  Why did the Commission act now to do something about menhaden?
Jud Crawford: Long-standing concerns about dwindling menhaden combined with a scientific peer review of the recent stock assessment put a bright light on the need for more protective biological standards for regulating the menhaden fishery. With an enormous outpouring of public demand for action – the Commissioners took action to protect these vital forage fish.

TF: What is different about the way this fishery will be managed using these newly agreed-upon management tools, compared to the way menhaden have been managed in the past?
JC: The new management target will ensure than many more menhaden are left in the water, allowing the stock to grow and provide food for the predators in the ecosystem. The Commission made a clear commitment to aiming at the new target through management measures – this is an important break from the past when targets were exceeded nearly every year since 1955.

TF: Is it possible for the menhaden fishery to be considered “sustainable” in the future, by MSC standards? What would need to happen?
JC: Once the commission implements the new policies that allow menhaden to recover to the management target, they will have made a major step in bringing the fishery closer to what might be viewed as sustainable by modern standards for forage fish. However, considerable additional work will be needed to meet the science-based standards being applied by recognized eco-labeling organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Read the full article at TalkingFish.org.

Analysis: The interview, which states that menhaden are currently "dwindling," greatly underestimates the health of the fishery. The most recent stock assessment from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) concluded that menhaden are not currently overfished. Slight overfishing did occur in 2008, but it was the only year in the last decade where overfishing occurred, contrary to the articles assertion that safe fishing targets have been exceeded every year since 1955. Overfishing in one year of the last ten in the survey was not sufficient to declare the fishery overfished, and egg production in the fishery is currently at its target level.