July 24, 2014 — "While 2013's overall menhaden catch was under the set total allowable catch, this masks the fact that several states made little or no attempt to comply with the new ASMFC regulations."
The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Peter Baker recently declared the new catch limits on Atlantic menhaden a “success” based on the results of the last year’s menhaden harvest (“Atlantic menhaden catch cap a success,” Pew Charitable Trusts, May 15, 2014). But such a declaration depends on a very limited definition of “success.” In the year since these cuts went into effect, issues of transparency, equity and disparities in enforcement persist.
Passed at the end of 2012, the new catch limits on menhaden cut the total coastwide Atlantic harvest by 20 percent of the average menhaden landings from 2009-11, with each state allocated a percentage of the overall quota based on their landings during that period. Mr. Baker writes, “All 15 Atlantic coast states have successfully implemented the catch cap” that was agreed upon in 2012. While 2013’s overall menhaden catch was under the set total allowable catch, this masks the fact that several states made little or no attempt to comply with the new Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s regulations.
New York state’s categorical refusal to enforce its allotted quota starkly contradicts Baker’s claim that every state has successfully implemented its cap. For the 2013 fishing year, New York simply refused to enforce its catch limit, claiming that its new quota — based on the cuts for which it voted in 2012 was rendered using flawed landings data. Since then, little effort seems to have been made to curtail the state’s menhaden fishery, even as it vastly exceeded the new limits. This resulted in New York fishermen catching more than four times the number of menhaden allowed under their quota.
Read the full opinion at National Fisherman Magazine