NEWPORT NEWS, VA – July 16, 2010 – Members of the study group said they wanted more data.
"We want to have more answers," said Lisa M. Guthrie of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters and a member of the study group. "I think everybody wanted to have more cut-and-dried answers on whether it is being overfished or whether it isn't."
David L. Nobles of the Coastal Conservation Association said his group is convinced menhaden stocks have declined, though he has no science to support his observation.
Members of a group studying the future of menhaden learned a lot about the small, oily fish on Thursday but left their first meeting with one nagging question: how many are in the Chesapeake Bay?
The panel of legislators, environmentalists, marine industry officials and recreational fishing interests heard from federal and state biologists on the fish, but little information was specific to the bay. Atlantic menhaden are found along the East Coast, from Maine to Florida, but the bay attracts many of the fish.
"We need science that's specific to the Chesapeake Bay and not the entire Atlantic stock," said Sen. Ralph Northam, a Norfolk Democrat and co-chair of the committee.
Read the story in full from Business Week.