Saving Seafood

VIRGINIA: Ocean Harvesters, Virginia sign agreement limiting menhaden fishing

April 24, 2023 — Ocean Harvesters, the largest participant in Virginia’s menhaden fishery and a long-term supplier to Cooke subsidiary Omega Protein, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with government of Virginia agreeing to put limits on menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay.

The new agreement will restrict areas in the Bay to fishing, restrict fishing on weekends during busy recreational fishing seasons, and limit fishing an areas with high recreational boating traffic. The new MoU, the company said, will help limit conflicts between the fishery and other users of the bay.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

VIRGINIA: Menhaden fleet agrees to limit where it fishes in the bay

April 23, 2023 — The controversial menhaden fleet that supplies Omega Proteins’ Reedville plant is promising to limit areas in the Chesapeake Bay where it will set its nets and catch fish.

In a memorandum of understanding with the state, Ocean Harvesters said it wants to limit potential areas of conflict with other users of the bay.

Conservationists and recreational fishermen had pushed for limits — with some calling for an outright ban on catching menhaden in the bay — after two spills of dead menhaden last year washed ashore.

Read the full article at Richmond Times-Dispatch 

VIRGINIA: Virginia’s Menhaden Fishery, Commonwealth of Virginia Sign Memorandum of Understanding That Will Limit Fishing in the Chesapeake Bay

April 23, 2023 — Ocean Harvesters, the largest participant in Virginia’s historic menhaden fishery, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Commonwealth of Virginia and other menhaden fishing companies that will put new limits on menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. This MOU will limit potential sources of conflict between the fishery and other users of the Bay and is part of the fishery’s efforts to continue to be responsible stewards of our shared marine resources.

Ocean Harvesters has an exclusive, long-term supply agreement with Omega Protein of Reedville, Virginia, which has operated continuously in the area since 1878.

“The new memorandum of understanding successfully addresses concerns that have been raised about how the menhaden fishery can best coexist with other user groups in the Bay,” said Monty Deihl, CEO of Ocean Harvesters. “This MOU further illustrates that the menhaden fishery will work with the Bay community to alleviate concerns and to remain operating responsibly and sustainably here in Virginia.”

Read the full article at Yahoo Finance

RHODE ISLAND: Fisheries Council recommends allowing more Atlantic menhaden fishing in Bay

April 8, 2023 — The Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council voted Monday to recommend allowing commercial fishermen to harvest 50,000 pounds of Atlantic menhaden per vessel per week, despite the Bay possibly being closed to fishing because the population may be below Menhaden Management Area program threshold levels.

The 4-3 vote occurred despite a state Marine Fisheries Division staff recommendation for more study. When the Bay is open under the MMA program, 120,000 pounds/vessel/day are allowed to be harvested.

The MMA program uses ecosystem-based management approaches to ensure there are enough Atlantic menhaden left in the water to serve as food for striped bass, bluefish, tuna, dolphin, whales, osprey and other animals.

Read the full article at The Providence Journal 

VIRGINIA: Bill to require study of menhaden in Chesapeake Bay scaled back

February 14, 2023 — A proposal to study the menhaden population in the Chesapeake Bay was scaled back in the House Monday.

An earlier version of the bill from Sen. Lynwood Lewis, D-Accomack, asked the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to study the ecology, fishery impacts and economic importance of menhaden within the Chesapeake Bay over a two-year period.

But on Monday a House Rules subcommittee voted to amend the bill to only require VIMS to provide details of a potential study’s scope, including methodology, possible stakeholders, costs and timeline.

“I think your issue is totally legitimate, but we need to look at the health of the Bay in toto,” said Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Spotsylvania, noting studies can take five to 10 years to complete.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

Proposed menhaden ban blocked in Virginia legislature

January 25, 2023 — Virginia state House Bill 1383, recently introduced by Delegate Tim Anderson of Virginia Beach to shut down Virginia’s menhaden reduction fishery in all of the state’s territorial ocean waters and inland Bay waters for two years, was unanimously tabled Jan. 18 by the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee.

The vote was 22-0 to table and “pass by indefinitely.”  The bill has a delayed effective date of Nov. 18, 2023 and a sunset date of Nov. 22, 2025.

“Normally when they vote PBI it means the bill dies forever unless someone brings it back next year,” said Montgomery Deihl, vice president of operations for Omega Protein in Reedville, Va.  “But the fact that it was a unanimous vote sends a strong signal that there’s no support for it.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

House committee kills bill banning menhaden reduction fishery in Chesapeake Bay

January 19, 2023 — Legislative attempts to put a two-year moratorium on the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and expand the time period during which state officials can change the fishery regulations died Wednesday in committee.

The House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee unanimously voted to kill a bill from Del. Tim Anderson, R-Virginia Beach, that would have shut down the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay for two years while the Virginia Marine Resources Commission conducted a study on its impacts.

Del. Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News, was absent from the meeting.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

Menhaden numbers strong, quota to rise

December 23, 2022 — An innovative new technique to assess the health of fish population that set lower triggers for catch quotas has found that menhaden — probably the most controversial catch in Virginia — are doing even better than expected.

As a result, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission increased its coastwide quota for menhaden by 20%, while leaving its cap on the Chesapeake Bay catch at 51,000 metric tons.

Sports fishermen have pressed for years for more limits on the menhaden catch, arguing that Reedville-based Omega Proteins fleet is taking too many fish, and leaving the population is too low to help the popular, if overfished, striped bass that feed on menhaden.

But the new ecological reference point technique for assessing the stock, which looks at how many fish are born and how many die, whether through fishing or being eaten by predators or dying from natural causes, specifically looks at how menhaden population is affecting striped bass and other species.

Menhaden mortality is below the “target” level determined with the new reference point technique – that is, whether through fishing or what would be needed to support healthy populations of the fish that eat menhaden, deaths are less than what is needed to maintain a sustainable population, and far below the “threshold which is when the there’s a danger of population collapse, the Atlantic States commission found.

Read the full article at the Richmond Times

VIRGINIA: Menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay won’t get new restrictions — for now

December 7, 2022 — The Virginia Marine Resources Commission on Tuesday chose not to place new limits on the menhaden harvest. The decision came after an hours-long hearing that included roughly three dozen impassioned public commenters.

In fact, board members didn’t vote on the regulations at all. Instead, they approved a non-binding motion to try and reach an agreement with the menhaden industry.

The decision is the latest in a decades-long, politically fraught fight over the fishery that’s unique to the commonwealth.

Virginia is the only place on the East Coast that still allows harvesting menhaden within state waters. Omega Protein catches the fish and processes them into oil or fishmeal at a facility in Reedville.

Sportfishers and environmental groups have been pushing for a total ban on the menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay, citing impacts to the food chain.

A petition supporting such a ban, circulated by the Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association this year, garnered 9,200 signatures.

The proposed regulations this week would not have gone nearly as far.

VMRC staff recommended prohibiting menhaden fishing within one nautical mile of shorelines in state and Virginia Beach waters, and for a half-mile on each side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Read the full article at WHRO