While fishing the Chesapeake Bay not long ago, we watched as water craft wrapped nets around a huge, purplish mass of baitfish, their surface-dimpling movements detected by a spotter plane that droned above us. As a cloud of gulls screeched over the water, the fish were sucked into a vessel more akin to a ship than a boat.
Texas-based Omega Protein Corp. was at work, capturing tons of menhaden for its processing plant in Reedsville. The take provides the ingredient for everything from pet food to healthy heart fish oil.
The menhaden grab is a common scene across the Bay’s landscape. It is unnerving for sport fishermen who view menhaden as a vital and declining food source for striped bass, bluefish, trout, flounder, drum and other species they hold in high esteem.
Sport fishermen and environmentalists believe that when you harm menhaden, you aren’t just harming a single species, you are threatening the entire ecosystem. Already there are signs that striped bass are under stress in the Chesapeake Bay, which is the species principal spawning grounds. No wonder menhaden are called “the most important fish in the sea,” which happens to be the title of a probing book on the species by H. Bruce Franklin.
To be sure, Omega Protein is engaged in a lawful business that provides jobs, pays shareowners and stimulates the economy. The fact that the company posted $168 million in revenue last year is of no small importance in today’s challenging business climate.
But angling groups, joined by environmental organizations, point to other figures. They say there has been an alarming 88 percent decline in the menhaden population the past 25 years. This has brought pressured for a new management plan from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a multistate organization charged with the well-being of this species.
Much to the irritation of sport fishermen, the ASMFC has insisted that over-fishing is not a factor, that the stock is sufficient to satisfy the needs of fish, birds, marine mammals, the baitfish business and the purse seine industry.
But recently ASMFC has expressed more tolerance for the concerns of anglers; thus, it was a huge and historical victory for sport fishermen earlier this month when the agency voted to begin a public comment period on a draft addendum to the present menhaden management plan. The goal is to increase the menhaden breeding stock along the Atlantic Coast, including the Chesapeake Bay. Options will range from reducing the harvest by as much as 45 percent to maintaining the status quo.
Read the full article at The Roanoke Times.
Analysis:
While the article is correct in asserting that menhaden are a food source for various species prized by angles, it is incorrect in asserting that menhaden are a primary or irreplaceable part of these fishes' diets. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), as part of their Chesapeake Multispecies Monitoring and Assessment Program (ChesMMAP) initiative , has studied the diets of various fish species in the Chesapeake. It concluded that menhaden make up as little as 9.6% of striped bass diets, 11% of bluefish diets, and less that 10% of flounder diets. As the article notes, the ASMFC has concluded that menhaden are not overfished.