SAVE THE STRIPERS

Background on the striper/menhaden issue

The NCMC recognizes the important niche menhaden fill in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, particularly with regard to the spawning population of Atlantic striped bass. Menhaden must be protected from industrial-scale fishing operations in the Bay to ensure an adequate supply of forage for stripers and other predators who depend on an abundance of available prey.

The Chesapeake Bay produces nearly half (47%) of each new generation of menhaden. Up to 90% of the East Coast migratory stock of striped bass spawn in Chesapeake Bay as well. Unfortunately, this primordial but delicate predator-prey balance is being threatened because the Chesapeake is also the epicenter of an industrial-scale commercial fishery for menhaden. Hundreds of millions of pounds are removed annually and "reduced" into chicken feed and a variety of other products. Up to 50% of Atlantic menhaden landings (70% by number of fish) are taken in the Chesapeake Bay and adjacent coastal waters, right where the Atlantic striped bass stock depends on them the most. Today, the population of juvenile menhaden - fish age 0 and 1, the preferred prey for adult striped bass, bluefish, weakfish other species, including birds of prey - is in decline, reaching a historic low in 2001.

Atlantic menhaden comprise up to 80% of the diet of large adult striped bass in a healthy ecosystem. However, given the recent success in rebuilding striped bass coincidental with the failure to conserve the abundance of their primary food source, striped bass are forced to forage on other species, such as blue crabs or small trout, that are in scant supply, none as widely distributed or of equivalent nutritional value because they lack the fat content of menhaden. The catch of "skinny" stripers is all too common, an unmistakable sign that prey are in short supply. Stress-related diseases are killing 1 in 10 bass in the Bay, according to one study.

The abundance of older rockfish, the most productive spawners and therefore crucial to maintaining a healthy and stable stock for the long term, is expected to sharply increase in years to come as the strong year classes of the 1990s mature. But these fish are the most dependent on juvenile menhaden, whose numbers are in decline. That means more and bigger fish will be competing for a scarcer food supply. The high level of menhaden harvest, already thwarting the growth of adult bass and increasing natural mortality, threatens to further weaken the breeding population, possibly leading to another stock collapse.

The ecological impacts from increased striped bass predation on nontraditional forage species are unknown. Furthermore, stocks of bluefish, weakfish, and other inshore species are now recovering, which is increasing total natural predation on the already reduced menhaden stock. A number of species of piscivorous birds, including ospreys and loons, favor menhaden. Scientists believe the drop in young menhaden in Chesapeake Bay is depriving these birds of adequate food. The loon population in the Bay has declined 75% since the early 1990s. The number of osprey nesting in the Bay has decreased significantly, too.

Additionally, menhaden are filter feeders - that is, they consume phytoplankton, acting as a regulator of algae in coastal waters. Removing too many of them can contribute to excessive algal blooms and poor water quality.

Because of the threat to striped bass, other fish and birds, we are calling on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to curtail industrial-scale fishing for Atlantic menhaden within the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

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Learn more about our Save the Stripers campaign

Help is needed from fishermen to formulate a new National Ocean Policy. Please take the short online survey by July 17, 2009.

Donate to our Save the Stripers campaign (part of our "Conserving Marine Ecosystems" program)

Read the latest news on our efforts to Save the Stripers:  Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Acts to Extend Bay Menhaden Cap.

NCMC opposes blanket no-fishing zones. Learn more about our position on marine protected areas.