REEDVILLE—The menhaden board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission recently voted to reduce the annual harvest of menhaden by as much as 37%, possibly leading to reductions in the operations of Omega Protein Inc. in Reedville.
There are 15 states that belong to the ASMFC and each state has one vote. The commission held 13 public hearings on menhaden and received nearly 92,000 comments, the majority of which were in favor of a smaller harvest to avoid overfishing and increase abundance and spawning stock biomass.
Research from the 2010 stock assessment showed that menhaden were overfished in 32 of the past 54 years, although only once in the past decade.
“I’m disappointed that the fishery managers ignored the science and listened to the more radical advocacy groups,” said Omega director of public affairs Ben Landry.
Read the complete story at the Rappahannock Record.