MENHADEN VICTORY BENEFITS ALL

11/10/11  East coast fishery managers are finally treating menhaden as if it really were the most important fish in the sea. On August 9th, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted to end years of overfishing and triple the population of this small silvery prey fish, an essential source of food for so many marine predators.

The interstate commission, meeting in Boston this week, approved new targets and limits for the menhaden fishery. The overfishing threshold was raised to 15% of the population’s maximum spawning potential (or %MSP, a measure used to assess a fish stock relative to its unfished state). Most importantly, a new population target was set at 30%MSP. To put this into perspective, the ASMFC’s 2010 stock assessment estimated the current population at less than 10%. It’s been kept at this low level for years, to keep catches high for the reduction industry; one company, Omega Protein, with a fleet of 10 vessels that catches 80% of the coast-wide landings, over 183,000 metric tons in 2010.

Why the historic change in how menhaden are managed, and why now? “The ASMFC took a fresh look at the state of the resource, considered emerging standards for conserving forage fish like menhaden, and listened, not just to the industry, but to the broad public constituency the commission represents,” says Ken Hinman, president of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation (NCMC).

It took a lot of work to get to this day. For 10 years, the NCMC participated in nearly every meeting that had anything to do with menhaden held by ASMFC or other state/federal management and research institutions. The reason we’ve devoted so much attention to this little fish is simple, says Hinman: “An abundance of menhaden is of crucial importance to the future of striped bass, bluefish, bluefin tuna, osprey and other seabirds, whales, the health of east coast estuaries like Chesapeake Bay, and the future sustainability of many Atlantic fisheries, recreational and commercial.”

The new target and threshold, now part of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden, will require a reduction in landings of 37% percent from 2010 levels. New management and allocation measures for the reduction fishery and the fisheries that catch menhaden for the bait market will be developed through an amendment to the FMP in 2012, with a goal of implementing the catch limits in the 2013 fishing season.