May, 25, 2012 – Save the whales? Check. Save the sharks? Check. Save the menhaden?
Save the what?
Americans have shown they will respond to calls to preserve imperiled species. Usually the animals evoke some kind of emotional pull: They are cuddly or fierce, powerful or heartbreakingly fragile, or at least familiar.
But menhaden? Until recent years, few had heard of this small, oily fish, once found in great numbers along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida. It isn’t found on any menu or at the neighborhood grocery’s seafood counter. Due primarily to overfishing by commercial fleets, stocks of menhaden had dropped to 10 percent of historic levels, but its plight was not on many people’s radar.
But thanks in large part to efforts led by the Pew Environment Group, awareness of the value of menhaden, and other species collectively known as “forage fish,” has grown greatly. Using a wealth of scientific research and working with other groups, Pew campaigns have helped elevate understanding of this key part of the marine ecosystem and have driven action to preserve these vulnerable species.
“The issue has been around for a while—the Pew Oceans Commission identified preservation of forage fish as a problem in 2003, and other groups have been working on it in various capacities,” said Paul Shively, who manages Pew’s Pacific Forage Fish Campaign out of Portland, Ore. “But the issue has gone from zero to 60 in the last few years.”
Now media reports regularly emphasize the importance of menhaden, herring, smelt, anchovies, sardines and other species—both as prized prey of larger, well-known predators such as tuna, salmon, humpback whales and striped bass, but also as the source of protein-rich fish oils and a major component of fish meal, pet food and fertilizer. Increasingly, the connection is being made: When stocks of forage fish drop, populations of larger fish, marine mammals and seabirds often fall as well.
Read the full story from Pew Charitable Trusts.
Analysis: This article, from the Pew Environment Group, claims that menhaden, under pressure from commercial fishing, have been reduced to “10 percent of historic levels.” The ten percent value refers to Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP), which is not an historic figure, but an estimate of the total reproductive capability of a theoretically unfished population. Currently, the menhaden fishery’s reference point, a level of fishing that, if exceeded, indicates overfishing, equals 8 percent of MSP.
But, because menhaden produce a large amount of eggs during spawning, they are able to rebuild their population from a relatively low level of spawners. Given their reproductive abilities, levels of menhaden fishing around 8 percent MSP is by itself not an indication that the species is overfished. MSP levels are also poorly correlated with menhaden recruitment, (the number of adult menhaden growing to join the population), with environmental conditions playing a much greater role.
While the article blames a relative decline in the menhaden population on overfishing, there has been little overfishing in the past decade. The 2010 stock assessment, which announced that the menhaden population was experiencing overfishing by .4% over the reference point, was the first time in 10 years overfished was judged to have occurred. However, the fecundity of the stock is still high, as the ASMFC has determined that the number of eggs being produced by the stock is still sufficient to maintain a healthy population.