Conservation & Environment

Two important decisions emerged from the recent meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission that should have a positive impact on the Chesapeake Bay's striped bass (rockfish) industry. The first was a decision not to restrict the harvest of striped bass, the other to significantly curb the Atlantic menhaden catch.

How could a decision to leave alone rockfish, a species highly prized by commercial fishermen and recreational anglers alike, while restricting the harvest of the lowly menhaden, an oily little fish that no self-respecting hook-and-line fisherman would use for anything other than bait, be a win for conservationists and the fishing industry?

It's a lesson of the food chain — and a victory for science over politics and short-sighted commerce. The decision not to reduce the striped bass catch by 50 percent in 2012 was voted down chiefly because striped bass landings are still near record-highs and recruitment in the Chesapeake Bay this year was robust as well — the fourth highest number of baby fish on record.

Meanwhile, menhaden stocks are thought to be at all-time lows. Studies suggest that heavy fishing — primarily by one company — has depleted the menhaden spawning population to just 8 percent of its potential.

Menhaden may seem inconsequential to the seafood-lovers among us, but to striped bass they are a delicacy beyond compare. The fates of the two species are thought to be closely intertwined. Since the 1990s, scientists have found evidence that problems in the Chesapeake Bay striped bass population — poor nutrition and a prevalence of a bacterial infection called mycobacteriosis — are linked to a depletion of young menhaden in the bay.

So it's not too great a stretch to suggest that restricting the menhaden catch by 37 percent — as the commission has decided — could boost rockfish prevalence (and lower natural mortality rates) as well. And that's a big victory for advocates, including Gov. Martin O'Malley and officials at the state Department of Natural Resources, who spent years lobbying for this.

But the fight is far from over. Officials in Virginia, home to Omega Protein, Inc., the company responsible for an estimated 80 percent of the East Coast menhaden catch, are likely to resist the restrictions, which won't go into effect for two years. The Virginia legislature would have to approve of them in 2013, and Omega may take the matter to federal court before then.

Read the full article at the Baltimore Sun.

Analysis: The article says that "heavy fishing" has led to an unsustainably low menhaden population, with the population of the fishery at "8 percent of its potential." However, it ignores the most recently available scientific data, and misrepresents some key facts about 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 and was not sufficient to declare the fishery overfished.

The article also is misleading when it claims menhaden are at 8 percent of their potential. Menhaden are currently fished to around 8 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.

Finally, while the article claims that current health problems in bass such as mycobacteriosis are the result of a lack of menhaden, there are several other more likely causes, such as the "thermal niche/oxygen squeeze" hypothesis. Currently, large amounts of run-off into the Chesapeake Bay have created areas with low levels of oxygen, called hypoxia. These hypoxia zones are in the deeper, colder waters that bass usually inhabit. With their usual territory rendered inhospitable, the bass migrate to shallower, warmer waters for which they are ill-suited. As a result of the stress caused by higher-than-normal water temperatures, the bass don't feed properly, and are susceptible to a variety of diseases, such as mycobacteriosis.

 

 

The federal authority that oversees our marine resources finally understands how we need to preserve species at both ends of the food chain.

The Atlantic States Maine Fisheries Commission voted this past week to reduce the menhaden harvest by almost 37 percent. Anglers have always known how important this species is on the food chain, feeding everything from tuna, to bluefish and striped bass.

The Narragansett Indians called the fish munnawhatteaug, “that which manures,” soon corrupted to “menhaden” by the English colonists. Along a good part of the mid-Atlantic they’re known as bunker and further north as pogy.

Termed “the ocean’s unlikely hero” by author H. Bruce Franklin, menhaden have shaped America’s national — and natural — history. Many saltwater anglers on the East Coast might realize their fishing success is dependent on menhaden because these small forage fish support many of the Atlantic’s most important recreational fisheries.

The commission has regulatory oversight of menhaden harvest and other fisheries in state waters from Maine through eastern Florida. The current benchmarks used by the commission show the menhaden stock is undergoing overfishing, and overfishing has occurred in the menhaden fishery in 32 of the last 54 years.

Nearly all of the commercial menhaden harvest is caught by Omega Protein Corp., whose factory processes the hundreds of millions of pounds of menhaden caught annually primarily for fish meal and oil. Menhaden oil is used in animal feed, dietary supplements and other commercial products.

Read the full article by Ken Moran in the New York Post.

Analysis: While the article is correct in saying that menhaden have been overfished in 32 of the past 54 years, it is wrong in saying that the population is currently overfished. The 2010 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) stock assessment concluded that the stock was not overfished, even though overfishing had occurred in 2008. The distinction between overfishing occurring and the stock being overfished is that, even though fishing slightly exceeded the fishing mortality threshold in 2008, egg production in the fishery was still at its target level. 2008 was the only year in the last ten in which overfishing occurred.

 

 

 

A multistate commission has stepped in to do what Virginia lawmakers should have done long ago: impose restrictions on menhaden fishing. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has voted to reduce the yearly catch by roughly one-fourth to one-third from its current height.

The menhaden population has shrunk to less than 10 percent of its historic size. That has led to serious consequences for species higher up the food chain, such as striped bass. Most of the menhaden fishing is done by Omega Protein. Omega makes fish-oil supplements at a plant in Reedville, where 300 workers ground up 183,000 tons of menhaden last year.

Common sense suggests Virginia ought to regulate menhaden through the state's Marine Resources Commission, as it does with other species. But bills to place the fish under that body's bailiwick meet a swift demise in the General Assembly, which retains authority — but does not exercise it — over menhaden. Omega lavishes campaign donations to state lawmakers of both parties.

As a result, the fish is providing a case study in the tragedy of the commons. Overfishing might not be the sole cause of menhaden's decline, but it plays a major role. Fortunately, recent history proves the decline can be reversed. After Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine joined Maryland's Martin O'Malley to impose catch limits on blue crabs, that species — which, like menhaden, had suffered a sharp drop in population — quickly rebounded.

The ideal solution to the menhaden problem would be to raise the fish in aquatic farms. The species' low economic value per fish, as well as its feeding and excretory habits, make farming prospects dim. So Atlantic coastal states are duty-bound to protect the species through catch limits and similar regulatory measures.

Regrettably, this could cut into Omega's bottom line and even lead to some layoffs. But those considerations must be weighed in the scales against the greater harm that would result from failing to act. The Chesapeake Bay and its inhabitants belong to everyone.

Read the full article at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Analysis:  The article gets several facts wrong in its attempt to label the menhaden fishery overfished. Currently, based on the last stock assessment by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), menhaden are not considered to be overfished. And while the article claims that menhaden is at "10 percent of its historical size" that alone is not enough to indicate the stock is overfished. Menhaden are fished to around 10 percent of their Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is not an historical measuremnet but an estimate of a theoretical unfished population. Historically menhaden MSP has rarely risen above 10 percent, and the stock has been able to rebuild itself at that level. There is also no strong correlation between menhaden recruitment and MSP.

Odds are it’s never been on your dinner plate, but it’s helped get other fish there.

Alex DeMetrick reports, menhaden are near the bottom of the food chain, and it makes them important enough to rescue from overfishing.

Eighty percent of the menhaden caught on the East coast are harvested in Virginia’s part of the Chesapeake.

Federal regulators say menhaden numbers are so low, the catch must be reduced by almost 40 percent.

“A fish so ecologically important, being down so far, has ramifications for the whole coastal ecosystem,” Bill Goldsborough, Chesapeake BayFoundation scientist said.

“Having more menhaden in the water is good for all the predators, not only striped bass but osprey, the blue fish,” Lynn Fegley assistant director of DNR fisheries said, “It’s a pretty valuable little fish.”

Used as bait, menhaden keep Maryland’s crab industry working.

The factory fishing in Virginia sells the fish for pet food and oil used in vitamin supplements. So many are taken, the larger fish in Maryland waters are impacted.

“Lack of menhaden means striped bass aren’t getting enough to eat, they’re getting sick and aren’t living as long, ” Goldsborough said.

“The number of menhaden we estimate to be in the ocean is lower now than it has been in 50 years,” Fegley said, “We’ve never seen numbers this low.”

The O’Malley administration lobbied other states to set the new fishing limits. Virginia opposed the high cut-back.

Read the article at WJZ Baltimore.

Analysis: The report does not accurately represent the health of the menhaden fishery. While it claims that stocks are low, the most recent stock assessment by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission concluded that menhaden were not overfished, and the overfishing had only occurred once in the last ten years.

 

 

A national alliance of fishing groups, including the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition, and advocates for the nation's farmers, ranchers, builders and miners have urged Congress to negate President Obama's National Ocean Policy, rolled out in 2010 via executive order.

Fishing interests warn that the policy entails a kind of ocean zoning that threatens fishing industry jobs, while the land-based alliance expressed concern about executive overreach that might lead to decisions based on uncertain values and priorities, squelching business along inland waterways.

The White House has denied the policy is akin to ocean zoning, and, in two heated hearings by the House Natural Resources Committee this fall, Congressman Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, has scoffed at the worries.

"Opposing ocean planning is like opposing air traffic control," Markey argued at the second hearing on Nov. 7. He described the opposition as engaging in "scare tactics."

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

MOBILE, Alabama — A recent vote by federal officials to cut the menhaden harvest along the Atlantic Coast by 37 percent has focused new attention on the massive menhaden catch in the Gulf of Mexico.

The menhaden fishery is the largest harvest in the Gulf, with an annual take of about 1 billion pounds a year, or roughly 10 times larger than any other Gulf fishery, according to federal landings data.

The Atlantic fishery produced about half a billion pounds last year, the data shows.

The Atlantic Fishery Management Commission, which regulates fishing in federal waters on the East Coast, chose to limit the catch there, citing overfishing and a dramatic drop in the size of the menhaden population. Some scientific assessments concluded that the population was about 8 percent of historic levels on the Atlantic Coast.

Read the complete story from Alabama Live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fisheries commission has stepped in to try to rebuild the population of a heavily harvested East Coast fish whose connections to American history run deep.

Called menhaden, the fish — part of the herring family — is today mostly used as fertilizer, feed for animals and farmed-fish and bait. Its place in American history goes back to the Pilgrims. Menhaden were the fish that Native Americans taught the Pilgrims to plant with corn as fertilizer. New England tribes in the pre-Colonial era called the menhaden munnawhatteaug, or “fertilizer.”

As the most heavily harvested fish, in terms of pounds, on the East Coast, its numbers have dropped to about 10% of its Colonial-era population.

So on Wednesday, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted 14-3 to reduce the amount of menhaden that may be caught by about 25% compared with the previous year’s catch. That should mean on average 60,000 metric tons “more fish in the water to help the population begin to rebuild,” says John Crawford of the Pew Environment Group’s Northeast Fisheries Program.

The commission’s decision was complicated, based on the estimated percentage of spawning-aged fish , says Ben Landry, director of public affairs for Omega Protein Corp. The Houston-based company catches 75%-80% of menhaden, which it turns into fish meal and fish oil at its Reedville, Va., plant.

Omega is willing to accept the cuts, Landry says, though the company disputes that menhaden are overfished.

The catch reduction is set to take effect in 2013, but the commission has the option of phasing it in. The number of pounds that may be taken will be calculated in May.

Environmental, sports fishing and conservation groups had recommended a cut of 38% but were happy with the outcome. The short-term cuts should increase “the amount of fish we’ll be able to harvest over time,” Crawford says.

Read the full article from USA Today.

Analysis: The article makes several misleading claims about the health of the fishery. It refers to menhaden as at "about 10% of its Colonial-era population." This figure refers to the Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP) which is an estimate of a theoretical unfished population, and not a historical measurement. Menhaden are currently fished to around 10 percent of MSP, but that alone is not an indication of overfishing; MSP has historically rarely risen above 10 percent, with the population previously able to rebuild itself at that level. Over the past several decades, there has been little correlation between MSP levels and menhaden recruitment. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has also concluded in its last assessment that menhaden were not overfished.

 

 

An important fish for the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem is getting more protection under a new target set today at a meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).

Menhaden, rich in healthy oils, are used for dietary supplements as well as for fertilizer and animal feed. The decision to lower the allowable catch by 37% is being driven by recent overfishing and recognition of the ecological role of menhaden. It's seen as a step toward ecosystem-based fisheries management.

Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) are small fish in the herring family, which filter-feed on phytoplankton and live at the base of the food web. Historically they were an important source of food for striped bass, osprey, and other predators. But the amount of menhaden available for wildlife has decreased as humans took more. Roughly 200,000 metric tons are caught each year, mostly in Chesapeake Bay by a company called Omega Protein.

An assessment last year by the ASMFC advisory panel determined that menhaden were being overfished, which meant that the commission was required to take action. The commission has also asked a technical committee to devise a strategy to preserve the ecological role of menhaden.

Environmentalists and scientists have lobbied ASMFC to lower the catch significantly, and today the commission did so. It raised the target level for the amount of fish that must remain in the ocean (called the maximum spawning potential) from 8% to 30%. So while people will still get the lion's share, there will be more menhaden for the rest of the ecosystem.

Read the full article at Science.

Analysis: While the article is correct when it says that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) determined that there was overfishing in the last year of its most recent assessment, it still mischaracterizes the overall health of the fishery. While overfishing was judged to have occur in 2008, the Commission determined that the menhaden population was not overfished, with egg production in the fishery at its target level. 2008 was also the only year in the last 10 when overfishing occurred, with fishing only .4% above the mortality threshold.

 

 

 

BREMEN, Germany — The gleaming green schooner in Bremen's shipyard says everything about how Greenpeace has grown up through the years. Three decades ago Greenpeace acquired a converted fishing trawler for $40,000, painted it green and set out to bump hulls with Japanese whalers and disrupt nuclear weapons testing; the first Rainbow Warrior was sunk by French intelligence agents in 1985.

In early October, with a traditional bottle of champagne, the movement christened Rainbow Warrior III — a $33 million marvel, part helicopter-capable warship equipped to do battle with "environmental criminals" and part high-tech PR vessel, with widescreen conference facilities and state-of-the-art communications.

Like the ship, environment activists of all stripes are showing hallmarks of maturity. The public image remains true: young idealists parading in polar bear outfits, climbing smokestacks of coal-burning power plants, hoisting a global-warming protest banner on Mount Rushmore.

Read the complete story by The Associated Press at The Standard-Times.

 

 

 

 

 

THE US consumer advocacy group Food and Water Watch have released a report on the effects of catch share programmes on Gulf of Mexico fisheries.

And analysing new federal government data, the report, entitled A Closer Look at Catch Shares in the United States: The Gulf of Mexico, claims to reveal that Gulf fisheries managed under one controversial programme have seen significant industry consolidation and job losses and that certain catch shares programmes have failed to meet ecological goals.

The report came a day after congressional sponsors of a bill to continue a recently enacted ban on new catch share programmes along the east coast and Gulf of Mexico confirmed that Congress had reached an agreement to kill the vote.

Read the complete story from Fish News EU.