March 13, 2012 – Menhaden are small, oily, inedible fish that once swam in great quantity in the Bay. Essentially useless as a food for humans, menhaden are among the greatest of delicacies for many of the Bay’s famous fish. Striped bass, bluefish and weakfish will stand in long lines for a table at the Menhaden Cafe. At least, they used to dine at the Menhaden Cafe. That was before the Virginia legislature bucked pressure from the other Atlantic seaboard states and let a Texas company do its level best to wipe out the Menhaden stock in the Chesapeake Bay. This cowardly action has led to a deplorable drop in the menhaden stock.
Little White Lies. Politicians in Virginia support motherhood, apple pie and the Chesapeake Bay. Just ask them. Of course their support for motherhood comes complete with state police in riot gear when actual mothers show up in Richmond. And the frat boys in the General Assembly like apples because they can be turned into booze with uncapped alcohol content. This uncapped hard cider makes the tales of bedroom exploits all the more humorous when told from the floor of the General Assembly. The Bay, however, is sacrosanct. Unless it impinges on campaign contributions from those who would destroy it.
A silver fish with green highlights. The only saltwater fish in Virginia regulated directly by the General Assembly is the menhaden. This is because the menhaden is the only fish that can turn directly into campaign contributions from its greatest enemy – the Omega Protein Company. Based in Houston, Texas, but operating out of Reedville, Virginia, the Omega Protein Company uses its ten factory ships, planes and helicopters to pillage the Chesapeake Bay of its menhaden. Omega is such a pariah in the marine management world that every Atlantic state, except Virginia, has banned its factory ships from their coastal waters (although North Carolina allows limited access). Virginia’s love affair with Omega Protein is buoyed by waves of cash. $55,000 to Gov Bob McDonnell, $106,000 to state legislators, $53,000 to Virginia’s federal politicians and another cool $3M in lobbying. All of which has given the Clown Show in Richmond sufficient “courage” to persecute the little fish to the edge of extinction.
Read the full article at Bacon's Rebellion.
Analysis:
The article is wrong to say that menhaden are currently being overfished, and that the current rate of fishing is responsible for a “deplorable drop” in the menhaden population.
According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the same organization the article claims, “[threw] an overhand right straight into the faces of Virginia’s political class, the menhaden population is not overfished. The 2010 stock assessment concluded that population fecundity, a measure of how many eggs are being produced, is at healthy levels, and that fishing only slightly exceeded the mortality threshold. While this means that overfishing was occurring in 2008, the last year covered in the 2010 assessment, it was not enough for the stock to be declared overfished, and was the only time in the last 10 years that overfishing had occurred.
The size of the menhaden population is also more likely influenced by a combination of environmental factors than by the level of fishing. NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office, using the scientific data available on menhaden recruitment, concludes, “menhaden recruitment appears to be independent of fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass, indicating environmental factors may be the defining factor in the production of good year classes.” There is historically a poor correlation between fishing mortality and the subsequent menhaden population.
The Atlantic menhaden fishery based out of the Northern Neck in Reedville, Virginia is, according to a recent economic study conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, responsible for $80 million in economic output in the region. The study estimates that if the menhaden fishery were to be shut down, it would represent a 14 percent decline in economic output and an 8 percent decrease in employment for the surrounding region.