NEWPORT NEWS, VA – July 15, 2010 – State lawmakers, such as Cosgrove and Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, who organized the meeting, are concerned that menhaden are overfished. The Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission, an advisory board that monitors coastal populations, said earlier this year they are not overfished but the number of juveniles is low.
Cosgrove criticized the commission for not separately examining the bay fishery, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of the Atlantic catch. John V. O'Shea, the commission's executive director, said it doesn't have the funding for such an effort.
Jack Travelstead, fisheries management director at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, said it would cost $500,000 annually for five years to determine the number of menhaden in the bay.
Northam and Cosgrove tried unsuccessfully last winter to transfer management of the bay portion of the fishery from the General Assembly to the VMRC. The effort was stymied because of fears the VMRC would cut the fishery and, as result, jobs woud be lost in Reedville. The plant, operated by Houston-based Omega Protein Corp., employs roughly 250 people.
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