Atlantic Menhaden Board Archives

New Chesapeake Bay menhaden rules spark praise, criticism

November 15, 2017 — CHESAPEAKE BAY, Va. — New regulations on the harvest of menhaden are proving a mixed bag for local industry and conservationists.

Menhaden is a key part of the Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystem, serving as food for larger fish, mammals and birds. But they are also the key raw material for Omega Protein. Every day Omega turns tons of menhaden into fish oil, fish meal and other products.

As we showed you in our investigation Controversial Catch two years ago, Omega is the last major company of its kind on the Atlantic Coast, and has been operating in Reedville since the mid-1800s. Omega employs about 250 people there.

This week at its meeting near Baltimore, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has raised the total allowable catch of menhaden, from Maine to Florida, by 8 percent.

But Omega is not happy about that, because at the same time, the commission cut the amount the company can catch from the Chesapeake Bay by 40 percent.

Read the full story at WAVY

Menhaden vote a mixed bag for Virginia

November 15, 2017 — There was measured praise and disappointment all around this week after a regional fisheries commission voted on a 2018-2019 management plan for Atlantic menhaden, often called the most important fish in the sea.

For Virginia, too, it was a mixed bag.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided at an annual meeting in Linthicum, Md., to lower the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap by 41.5 percent, from 87,216 metric tons to 51,000 metric tons. This pleases Virginia conservationists, but not the reduction fishery.

The commission said in a statement that its decision “recognizes the importance of the Chesapeake Bay as nursery grounds” for menhaden and many other species that rely on menhaden as a food source.

It also bumped up the coast-wide catch limit for menhaden by 8 percent to 216,000 metric tons — a net plus for fisheries, and a “modest” increase with a “zero percent chance of subjecting the resource to overfishing or causing it to be overfished,” the commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Board Chairman Robert Ballou of Rhode Island said in a statement.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

ASMFC Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to Meet November 13th & 14th to Consider Approval of Amendment 3 and Set 2018 Specifications

August 24, 2017 — ARLINGTON, Va. — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board will meet November 13-14, 2017 to consider approval of Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden and set specifications for the 2018 fishing season. The meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 1 PM on the 13^thand end at 5 PM on the 14^th, will take place at BWI Marriot, 1743 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, Maryland.

Draft Amendment 3, which is currently out for public comment, seeks to manage the menhaden resource in a way that balances menhaden’s ecological role as a prey species with the needs of all user groups. To this end, the Draft Amendment considers the use of ecosystem reference points (ERPs) to manage the resource and changes to the allocation method. In addition, it presents a suite of management options for quota transfers, quota rollovers, incidental catch, the episodic events set aside program, and the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap.

Specifications for the 2018 fishery will occur following Board approval of the Amendment. The Commission’s Business Session will meet immediately following the conclusion of the Atlantic Menhaden Board meeting to consider final approval of the Amendment.

The meeting will be live-streamed via webinar; the details of which will be released at a later date. For more information, please contact Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at mware@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

ASMFC 2017 Winter Meeting Final Agenda and Meeting Materials Now Available

January 19, 2017 — The following was released by the ASMFC:

The final agenda and meeting materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2017 Winter Meeting can be obtained http://www.asmfc.org/home/2017-winter-meeting; click on the relevant Board/Committee name to access the documents for that Board/Committee. Please note there are two links for the Atlantic Menhaden Board meeting – the first link is for the main materials and the second link is for public comment submitted on the PID. For ease of access, all Board/Section meeting documents, with the exception of the Shad & River Herring Board materials and the submitted public comment portion of the Atlantic Menhaden Board materials, have been combined into two documents – Main Meeting Materials 1 and Main Meeting Materials 2. Main Meeting Materials 1 includes all boards/sections meeting on January 31 and Main Meeting Materials 2 are materials for the remainder of the week.

The agenda is subject to change. The agenda reflects the current estimate of time required for scheduled meetings. The Commission may adjust this agenda in accordance with the actual duration of meetings. Interested parties should anticipate meetings starting earlier or later than indicated herein.

Board/Section meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 8:00 a.m. on January 31st and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 3:00 p.m.) on Thursday February 2^nd. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board/section deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast, the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. Please go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2958062690378327044 to register.

As a reminder, the guidelines for submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOTestablished a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action) are as follows:

1. Comments received 3 weeks prior to the start of a meeting week will be included with the main meeting materials.

2. Comments received by 5:00 PM on the Tuesday immediately preceding the scheduled ASMFC Meeting (in this case, the Tuesday deadline will be January 24, 2017) will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting and a limited number of copies will be provided at the meeting.

3. Following the Tuesday, January 24, 2017 5:00 PM deadline, the commenter will be responsible for distributing the information to the management board prior to the board meeting or providing enough copies for the management board consideration at the meeting (a minimum of 50 copies).

The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution. As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

Read the full release at the ASMFC

Rebound seen for popular lobster bait fishery

November 9th, 2016 — Commercial fishermen can breathe a sigh a relief, as interstate fishing regulators say that the population of menhaden, a fish only topped by herring as the most popular type of bait for Maine’s lobster industry, continues to be healthy.

According to the Associated Press, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is reporting that menhaden fishery isn’t experiencing overfishing and continues to reproduce at a healthy rate. Atlantic Menhaden Board Chairman Robert Ballou added that the healthy population levels will give regulators a chance to reevaluate how to manage the fishery, which is typically worth more than $100 million annually, the AP reported.

The good news about the menhaden population comes on the heels of Maine’s menhaden fishery being closed by regulators for a week and a half in August, following reports that the annual landings quota for Maine, Rhode Island and New York, had been exceeded.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

ASMFC Presents William Goldsborough Prestigious Captain David H. Hart Award

October 28th, 2016 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission presented William “Bill” Goldsborough of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation the Captain David H. Hart Award, its highest annual award, at the Commission’s 75^thAnnual Meeting in Bar Harbor, Maine. Bill is the first person to receive all three Commission awards, having previously received an Annual Award of Excellence for Management & Policy Contributions and the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP) Melissa Laser Fish Habitat Conservation Award.

Throughout his 30 years on the front lines of fisheries management and conservation, Bill has remained a thoughtful and persistent voice of reason in his commitment to science-based decision making. A senior scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation since 1988, Bill has provided an independent, conservation-oriented voice to the fisheries discussion. Bill joined the Commission in 1995 after having served as a member of the Commission’s Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Transition Team. From 1995 through 2004 he was the Maryland Governor’s Appointee and again from 2007 until this year.

During his career, Bill has made significant contributions to the protection and recovery of several key Chesapeake Bay fishery species. He played a central role in the striped bass recovery, beginning with the implementation of the Maryland moratorium in 1985 and continuing through to the reopening the fishery in 1990, having achieved consensus among diverse stakeholders to move towards a conservation-based approach to striped bass management. He also led a public blue crab conservation campaign that resulted in a broad commitment to cap effort in the fishery and led to the adoption of bay-wide fishery management plans under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement.

A passionate advocate for aquatic habitat, Bill made habitat protection and restoration a topic of critical and common concern among fishermen. Regionally, he brought together a diverse group of commercial and recreational fishermen to adopt codes for protecting the Chesapeake Bay. Coastwide, he has left an indelible mark on the Commission’s Habitat Program as one of the earliest members of the Habitat Committee and its longest serving Chair, having serving in that position for 10 years. Thanks to his leadership and participation, the Committee has developed habitat sections for many of the Commission’s fishery management plans and released numerous publications – all of which have elevated our understanding that healthy aquatic habitats are the foundation of abundant fisheries. As a Steering Committee member, Bill also played an important role in the development and launching of the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership.

Perhaps one of Bill’s most notable and lasting endeavors is his commitment to ecological fisheries management, which the Atlantic Menhaden Board is now pursuing through Amendment 3. In 2005 and 2006, he was instrumental in developing the Chesapeake Bay reduction cap for menhaden and prompting a five-year Chesapeake Bay population research program. Throughout the oftentimes contentious deliberations, Bill’s was the calm voice reminding us to stay the course.

His contributions and composure in the face of challenging decision-making negotiations undoubtedly spring from his concurrent participation in other fisheries management fora, including his work with the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program where he serves on the Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team, and his tenures as a member of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Fishery Management Workgroup (1987-2001), Aquatic Reef Habitat Workgroup (1993-2000), Fish Passage Workgroup (1987-2000), and the Fishery Management Plan Review Taskforce (1993). From 1996 through 2003, he was a member of NOAA’s Bi-State Blue Crab Advisory Committee. For eight years (2002-2010), he was the NGO representative on NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Fisheries Steering Committee.

These are only some of the highlights in the remarkable career of an exceptional ecologist who has found ways to bridge gaps between stakeholders and the environment while deftly negotiating the terrain between what could be ideal and what is humanly possible.

The Commission instituted the Award in 1991 to recognize individuals who have made outstanding efforts to improve Atlantic coast marine fisheries. The Hart Award is named for one of the Commission’s longest serving members, who dedicated himself to the advancement and protection of marine fishery resources.