June 22, 2012 – Seven months ago, the menhaden board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted to reduce the annual harvest of menhaden by as much as 37%, threatening the livelihood of Omega Protein Inc. in Reedville.
The Northumberland board of supervisors invited Omega general manager Monty Deihl to speak last Thursday regarding the impact of the new regulations. He reported there has been little effect, so far.
Deihl said new evidence suggests the formula used by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to complete a menhaden stock assessment does not accurately reflect the menhaden population.
Every three years, NMFS does a stock assessment on Atlantic menhaden, explained Deihl. The last stock assessment released in 2010 was a compilation of data from 2006 through 2008 and indicated that the stock was fine. When one scientist discovered that some of the data had been entered incorrectly, it was reentered correctly in 2011, resulting in a new report that overfishing had occurred in 2008 by 0.04%, said Deihl.
Overfishing is determined by the mortality rate, calculated using how many fish the NMFS believes there are and the commercial catch, said Deihl. The mortality rate is then used to set a threshold mortality rate for commercial fisheries that cannot be exceeded, and then a target or goal rate. The current threshold allows for 8% of spawning menhaden to remain in the population while the target rate allows for 20%.
“No fishery is managed to the target. It’s always in that yellow threshold area for economic benefit. If they pushed it too far towards the target, you would put too many people out of the market,” said Deihl.
Read the full story at the Rappahannock Record.