Tag Archives: Menhaden
Menhaden reductions could make for tighter bait market
Once the cheapest of bait fish, bunker prices have been escalating in response to increasing demand, largely from the New England lobster industry. That fleet’s traditional first choice, Atlantic herring, has become steadily more restricted since 2005 as regulators pay more attention to issues like bycatch and ecosystem effects of removing herring. Read more here 11:22
Commercial vessel may be tied to dead menhaden
A vessel with the fish-processing company Omega Protein caught more menhaden than it could carry and rolled about 30,000 of the small, silvery fish back into the ocean off the eastern side of the Eastern Shore, said Rob O’Reilly, chief of fisheries management for the commission. Read more here 08:26
An Evolutionary Family Drama
Alewives are anadromous fish: Born in freshwater, they spend their lives in the ocean, returning annually to their birthplaces to spawn. Until colonial-era dams cut off their migration,,, Read more here NYT 08:05
Maryland Department of Natural Resources responds to watermen lawsuit
The Maryland Departm
ent of Natural Resources has responded to a lawsuit filed against it on Oct. 18, alleging that menhaden limits were set illegally after not following proper implementation procedure. [email protected]
Maryland Watermen challenge menhaden catch limits
A group of Maryland watermen has filed suit seeking to overturn the state’s catch limit on menhaden, arguing that it violates state and federal law and that the forage fish is not in need of conservation. more@baltimoresun 00:05
Harvesters Land and Sea Coalition alleges Maryland Department of Natural Resources illegally set menhaden regulations
EASTON — A recently organized group, the Harvesters Land and Sea Coalition, is calling for the withdrawal of regulations put into effect in June by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources on the total allowable catch of menhaden, alleging that DNR didn’t follow proper procedure for promulgating the regulations. “We’ve tried and tried and tried to work with DNR, and the reason this coalition was started is we can’t do anything else,” Bob Newberry, spokesman for the coalition, said. continued@stardem
State Senate acts to protect bunker fishing in New Jersey
pressofAtlanticCity.com – New Jersey menhaden fishermen already face a big cut in catches this year, but the state Senate on Monday adopted legislation that would at least prevent boats from other states from poaching the Garden State’s quota. continued
Taking the Long View – The Fall & Rise & Fall of Stripers
Striped bass, for thousands of years, have been coming back to the great spawning rivers of the Chesapeake Bay. And scientists, for decades, have been trying to figure out why striped bass reproduce so well during certain eras and so poorly during other eras. Bob Wood (above) has come up with a new theory that may answer these old questions. Credit: top, David Harp; bottom, Michael W. Fincham.
That’s a twist worthy of the old gods out of Greek myths. Every gift they ever gave us mortals carried a dark side. As mere mortals trying to manage the natural world, we instinctively try to maximize all the fish that matter most to us. We want a Bay full of stripers and a Bay full of menhaden. But that may not be an option. continued
With the Menhaden Stock Status Still Unknown, Industry Leaders Request Better Science
WASHINGTON — April 1, 2013 — In the wake of a deeply flawed 2012 stock assessment that has prevented the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) from determining the status of Atlantic menhaden, members of the bait and reduction fisheries have written to the ASMFC calling for updated science and better data collection for the menhaden assessment. continued For more information on the stock status see: “Menhaden are Overfished” Reports Turn Out Premature
Public lecture Thursday at VIMS spotlights menhaden
GLOUCESTER Va. – Rob Latour of the College of William and Marys Virginia Institute of Marine Science will explore long-simmering issues surrounding Atlantic menhaden, their commercial harvest and the recreational fisheries that target their predators at an After Hours lecture this Thursday evening. continue reading
Want to go? The 45-minute lecture will begin at 7 pm in Watermen’s Hall on the VIMS campus in Gloucester Point. Reservations to this free public lecture series are required due to limited space. Register online at http://bit.ly/ahmenhaden to attend in person or call 804-684-7846 for further information.
Omega Protein charged with releasing pollutants
NORFOLK, Mar 26, 2013 (Menafn – The Virginian-Pilot – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) –The U.S. government has charged Omega Protein Inc., the company that controls the big menhaden industry in Virginia, with discharging pollutants into state waters from its fishing fleet numerous times between 2008 and 2010. continue reading
Tens of thousands of dead fish wash ashore on South Carolina beach
Thousands of dead fish washed up on mile and a half stretch of beach in South Carolina Tuesday, officials said, at least the second such occurrence in the region in a week. Roughly 30,000 to 40,000 menhaden fish, 6 to 8 inches l
ong, were spread along the shore from DeBordieu Beach in Georgetown County, S.C., to Pawleys Island, a town on the state’s Atlantic Coast, and thousands more were expected, Pawleys Island Police Chief Michael Fanning said. Read more
Menhaden harvest cut 20% –
By Pamela Wood — The Capital
BALTIMORE — Regulators cracked down on the harvest of Atlantic Coast menhaden, a small and oily fish that has a crucial role in the ecosystem. Meeting in Baltimore on Friday, a multistate fishery board cut the total harvest by 20 percent for at least two years. “This is a gamble, but it’s a good first step,” said Will Baker, president of the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The bay foundation — and other environmental and fishing groups — were hoping to cut the harvest by as much as 25 percent. http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/environment/menhaden-harvest-cut/article_1d1aaec6-46ff-54d6-8a17-ff280057e0be.html
Panel votes to cut menhaden harvest by 20 percent Baltimore Sun
ASMFC Approves Atlantic Menhaden Amendment 2 savingmenhaden.org
Omega Protein Statement on Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Vote
EDITORIAL: Menhaden oversight getting serious [The Virginian-Pilot]
Members of the General Assembly have persistently rejected measures turning authority over to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which is charged with regulating all other fisheries. An amendment pending approval by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission next month might be enough, however, to lead lawmakers to finally recognize their own limitations. The commission, composed of the 15 Atlantic coast states, coordinates conservation and management of fisheries because, according to its website, “fish do not adhere to political boundaries.” http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-11-26&val=753162&cat=material
Massive fish kill continues in the Neuse River By Eddie Fitzgerald, Sun Journal Staff NewBern, North Carolina
A massive fish kill on theNeuseRiver that has been ongoing for nearly a month has resulted in thousands of menhaden washed up on beaches nearNeuseHarbor. Mitch Blake, Neuse Riverkeeper, viewed the area Tuesday afternoon, saying there were several hundred thousand dead fish washed up on the beach and in the river. For 21 days, mostly Atlantic menhaden have been dying over a large portion of the river fromNew Bernto Hancock Creek, Blake said in an email. Some of the dead menhaden have ulcers that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials have identified as Aphanomyces invadans from six samples analyzed in Beaufort.
http://www.newbernsj.com/news/local/massive-fish-kill-continues-in-the-neuse-river-1.31744
Southern Kingfish Association: Menhaden Vital To Ocean Life
October 18, 
2012 — The decline of menhaden stocks has caused interest in the health of our oceans. Particularly from Nova Scotia to Texas coastal waters where menhaden once ruled nearshore waters. After a limited search for menhaden while navigating our sport fishing boat out to sea and coming up empty handed, we broke out a box of frozen cigar minnows and placed them into a saltwater filled bucket to thaw. Also called frozen popsicles, frozen cigar minnows are packed into five-pound boxes and used for a wide variety of fishing purposes. In recent years with the decline of coastal baitfish schools, boxes of frozen cigar minnows are frequently finding their way in fish coolers.
The article blames an alleged lack of menhaden in the Jacksonville, Florida area on commercial fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, over 600 miles away. This argument relies on anecdotal evidence from observations made by one boat on one day, and the schooling patterns of menhaden during two days of a fishing tournament.
Menhaden were once so plentiful in the Atlantic that early pioneers described them as thick enough to hold up teams of oxen! Yessuh!
September 24, 2012 — Menhaden were once so plentiful in the Atlantic that early pioneers described them as swimming in schools twenty-five miles long or more, packing themselves into bays and estuaries where they came to feed on dense schools of phytoplankton (algae and vegetable matter). But those days are long gone. In the 1950s, the introduction of spotter planes and hydraulic technology to the fishery resulted in blowout years: 1.5 billion pounds of menhaden were caught in 1956, largely from the Chesapeake Bay and its environs. Ten years later, the catch had declined 70 percent, to 464 million pounds. The menhaden are currently at record low numbers.
At least according to Alison Fairbrother, director of the Public Trust Project. Through exaggeration and undocumented statements, Ms. Fairbrother presents selective and misleading facts about the menhaden fishery in her interview. This ultimately misconstrues their current status and misleads the public about the health of the fishery. Allison. Get off the pipe!
Extensive analyisis from saving menhaden fisheries
MENHADEN DEFENDERS: Mini (the dolphin) Needs Menhaden – savingseafood.orgs excellent analysis rebutts. (Mini won’t be going hungry!)
Our grassroots group, “Menhaden Defenders” has been working with fellow anglers to increase awareness and get fisherman involved in the fight because they are on the front lines and have watched this vital
forage fish vanish right before their eyes. After sitting before the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission (ASMFC) last week, it frustrated me to listen to our publicly appointed commissioners openly debate
whether or n……
Analysis: Menhaden Defenders’ Paul Eidman, in his article, “Mini Needs Menhaden,” writes of “an ecological disaster in the making” unless new limits are imposed on the Atlantic menhaden fishery.
This is just one of several exaggerated claims about the current state of menhaden management in the article, which fails to present several key facts in its account……Read More.
