Limits on menhaden harvest are urged
Ahead of board’s vote today, group lobbies
12:28 AM, Nov. 9, 2011
Written by
MOLLY MURRAY
The News Journal
The Pew Environment Group made a big push last week to influence the way officials in Delaware and three other states look at the lowly menhaden.
A full-page ad in last Wednesday’s News Journal read: “Governor Markell, take note … When this little fish disappears big fish (and the rest of us) are in trouble.”
Whether the campaign was effective will likely become apparent today, when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board votes on a new proposal to reduce landings – how much is harvested – to help the stock recover.
One option is to do nothing. Other proposals would reduce landings by as much as 40 percent – the option favored by Pew officials.
Delaware wasn’t the only state that got the full-court press last week. Pew also ran ads in Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
Delaware has three votes on the board: state Fish and Wildlife Director David Saveikis, retired state fisheries administrator Roy Miller and avid angler and state lawmaker Sen. Robert Venables Sr., D-Laurel.
Peter Baker, director of the Pew Environment Group’s Northeast Fisheries Program, said the group decided to target the four states because “we feel those are critical states where decisions haven’t been made.”
Baker said they also were targeted because Pew officials felt it would have the best effect.
The ads, which ran in print and as an online banner, attracted attention.
Brian Selander, a spokesman for Markell, said the office received two phone calls: one for the proposal to limit landings and one against it. He was uncertain how many emails the office received.
State environmental chief Collin O’Mara said there appears to be a clear consensus that something needs to be done to reduce menhaden landings.
He said the Delaware members of the board are aware of that and intend to make a decision based on the science.
The key issue at this point is what level of control to place on the landings, he said.
The science seems to be pointing to a 30 percent reduction, he said.
O’Mara said he’s also talked to environmental officials in other states leading up to today’s meeting.
While Delaware is not a hot spot for the menhaden fishing industry these days, it once was.
In the mid-1950s, Lewes had the highest commercial fish landings in the nation, thanks to its large menhaden fishery.
Lewes hosted one of the Atlantic States council’s 13 public hearings on the menhaden harvest proposals.
The regional fisheries board received 91,949 comments on the proposed management plan addendum.
A few months ago, Ken Hinman, with the National Coalition for Marine Conservation, said menhaden populations have been badly managed for years. There are now far more young spawners than older ones, he said.
That’s had an impact on population because older, mature females produce more eggs than younger fish – possibly as much as 10 times more, he said.
Meanwhile, conservation groups argue the population numbers became so skewed because of large-scale overfishing.
Along the Atlantic Coast, one company, Omega Protein, operates a menhaden-reduction facility in Reedville, Va.
Because the Chesapeake Bay is such a critical nursery area for menhaden – some scientists believe as much as 40 percent of the spawning stock from the Mid-Atlantic Bight end up in the Chesapeake – the fisheries commission has already placed a cap on harvests there.
But some say that just moved the fishery to offshore waters in the ocean.
Meanwhile, in recent years, there has been a small but growing fishery for menhaden for use as bait for other species.
That is where some of the concerns arise among Delaware stakeholders, O’Mara said. Delaware doesn’t have a commercial menhaden bait fishery, but commercial and recreational fishermen both use menhaden as bait.
Some worry the cost of menhaden for bait will go up and availability will go down if stringent conservation measures are enacted, he said.
Menhaden feed on plankton and are an important prey fish for striped bass, weakfish and tuna, among other species.
Historically, somewhere between 50 percent and 75 percent of the diet of striped bass was menhaden, according to Pew Environment officials. Now, it’s about 8 percent.
Pew officials believe that speaks to the scarcity of menhaden. If stripers aren’t eating menhaden, they prey on other species, such as weakfish.
The Pew organization would like to see a 40 percent reduction in the menhaden harvest.
While it’s difficult to predict a recovery window, Pew officials believe that menhaden populations could begin to rebound in three to five years.