What’s up with Omega Protein

Menhaden  Muddle #32
Throughout the campaign to obtain improved management of menhaden, Omega has been characterized as a principal cause of the decline in menhaden stocks. Actually they are not the culprits. The primary cause for the current problem has been the failure of the ASMFC Management Board to utilize precautionary methodology. Hopefully this is now a matter of history. Nevertheless much can be learned by observing Omega’s actions over the past 5 years. Omega has consistently defended its position by asserting that there are plenty of menhaden in the water to satisfy all needs. Their actions, however, suggest otherwise

First, let it be said that Omega has plenty of smarts and they use them effectively. Going back a few years, the company’s advertising painted the organization as a big, if not the biggest, fishing company. Slowly, over time, that pitch has changed, and they are now describing themselves as a nutrition company and downplaying the big fishing theme. Look at their website,  particularly that portion devoted to investors, and it becomes clear that there has been substantial change.

What really bring this out with a bang are the changes in personnel at the executive level effective in 2012. As of January 1, Joseph von Rosenberg becomes Chairman of the Board and Brett Scholtes moves up to CEO and president, a position previously held by von Rosenberg. Similarly, Andrew Johannesen moves up from Treasurer to CFO. New names are Joseph Kadi, who becomes Senior VP-Operations, and Gregory Toups becomes VP, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. John Held remains as Executive VP ,General Counsel and Secretary. In 2011 cash bonuses and stock grants totaling about$3,000,00o were awarded to this group. No comment on how this may have impacted the reported bottom line.

Also in recent history was the acquisition of a nutrition company as well as diversifying the product line to include sources other than menhaden. This transformation, while a work in process, appears to have been well planned and executed. However one has to wonder what caused this to take place. If there is one thing the VIMS study of the economics of reduction fishing on the Chesapeake Bay region taught us, is that in recent history the company has enjoyed superior margins. When one is doing so well, why change? There could be a number of reasons.
This writer speculates that the move results from knowledge that things could change rapidly,radically, and not favorably. Science notwithstanding, the best source of knowledge of what is happening to menhaden stocks resides with the people whose livelihood is dependent on them.  There is no argument that the stock is at a historically low level .It is also not arguable that recruitment is dismal. Logic says that if one continues to take out more than is replaced, at some point the stock will collapse. Nobody knows the time line better than Omega. Could it be, then, that they see the hand writing on the wall and have a program to restructure while it is possible to do so. After all, Omega’s responsibility is to its stockholders, not the public and not to the preservation of the fishery. This is especially true of a company that does not pay dividends and have stated they have no intention to do so.

The best way to judge what is at stake is to follow what a company does, not what it says.   While much of Omega’s rhetoric has been focused on the potential loss of jobs, these actions suggest that the employees are not their priority. The survival of the organization is.

Charlie Hutchinson is with the Maryland Saltwater Sportsman’s Foundation (MSSA). The views here are his own and do not necessarily express those of the entire Menhaden Coalition.

Virginia ASMFC Commisioner and Virginia State Senator Stuart Look to Withdraw from the ASMFC

An interesting note that Senator Stuart home district is the home of Omega Protein.
Regardless if they withdraw Virginia will still need to comply with the ASMFC regulations or the Department of Commerce can shut down the entire fishery for non-compliance.

—-
SENATE BILL NO. 18
Offered January 11, 2012
Prefiled December 28, 2011
A BILL to repeal § 28.2-1000 of the Code of Virginia, relating to membership in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Compact.
———-
Patron– Stuart
———-
Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources
———-

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That § 28.2-1000 of the Code of Virginia is repealed.

2.  That the Governor shall give notice of Virginia’s renunciation of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Compact as provided for in Article XII of the Compact.

Link to Bill #18 for Virginia to withdraw is located here.

MORE VIEWPOINTS ON MENHADEN ECONOMICS Menhaden Muddle #30 By Charlie Hutchinson

The VIMS economic study contains a lot of interesting information. While this study concerns itself only with the Chesapeake Bay region, the information regarding jobs and economic impacts provides a basis of comparison of relative values of different areas affected by menhaden regulatory decisions. For example, the economic value of the menhaden reduction operation to the Bay area in 2008 amounted to $88,200,000. Of this total $60,000,000 were direct ( Omega’s sales) and the balance is indirect( ie. other business created by Omegas operations). The employment totals are 519 menhaden related jobs of which Omega’s share is 300 during peak season. A competing activity for menhaden is recreational fishing. These activities had an economic impact in Virginia and Maryland alone of $332,000,000 and provided 3500 jobs in 2008. Anecdotal information indicates trouble in this area. Charter operations in particular report business is off as catches decline and costs increase. In a broad sense both activities are competing for the same depleted resource. While the study addresses the results of reduced harvests in the reduction industry it does not offer any insights on the impact of reduced availability in either the bait industry or in the recreational fishing activities. The sheer number of jobs involved would suggest that the economic penalty for a decreasing stock will fall much more heavily on activities outside of the reduction industry. Note the sharp differences in employment where Omega’s very efficient operations require far fewer people per dollar of economic impact. So, if jobs are important, one needs to consider which areas should bear what portion of the proposed reduction in catch.
One of the more challenging issues brought forth by the study is the “value” portion of this study. How does one resolve the difference in public opinion as portrayed in the VIMS report and the results of ASMFC’s public hearings and commentary? The VIMS study seeks to determine whether the value of fish left in the water is greater or less than jobs at the reduction facility. The study conclusion is that the public places a higher value on jobs and a status quo regulatory posture. In stark contrast the public hearings generated some 90,000 written comments overwhelmingly favoring curtailment of the harvest to a degree greater than the new limits provide. Obviously these two solicitations for public viewpoint are diametrically opposed. How come? My opinion is that there was a more educated response on the part of those who took the time and effort to reply to ASMFC. The study sought to eliminate bias. In order to do this (and it’s very difficult) minimal information was furnished to the VIMS study respondents. Consequently, those interviewed were likely to know very little about the menhaden situation and its potential ramifications on the ecology or the economy. The questions utilized are enumerated in the study. When one is asked to choose between jobs and abundance of a fish we don’t even eat in today’s economy and high unemployment the answer is a no brainer. Had the respondents known a lot more about the ecological and economic consequences of a declining stock the answers likely would be quite different. While economists feel these value studies are a good way to figure out what is most important to the public, my personal opinion is that they are way too subjective and it is extremely difficult to determine what the public wants. No surprise then that my preference is to follow the money. In a capitalistic economy the dollar usually determines policy and resultant regulatory action.

Charlie Hutchinson is with the Maryland Saltwater Sportsman’s Foundation (MSSA). The views here are his own and do not necessarily express those of the entire Menhaden Coalition.

Omega Protein’s Legal Team Resorts to Name-Calling, Bashes NMFS

December 15 2011  |   Alison Fairbrother  |  Blog, Environment, Fisheries, Food Safety, Regulation, Reports

Omega Protein’s lobbyists can hardly contain their disbelief.

In an op-ed published in the January issue of The National Fisherman, David Frulla and Shaun Gehan, Washington lawyers representing Omega Protein, minimize efforts to limit over-exploitation of a fish species crucial to the Atlantic marine ecosystem by saying “menhaden have become a ‘cause célébre.’”

Frulla and Gehan are referring to the 90,000 comments submitted by people from around the globe on behalf of the little fish that has come to be known as “the most important fish in the sea.”

In letters, emails, and petitions, concerned citizens asked regulators at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to preserve more Atlantic menhaden from commercial nets, citing stock assessment science and independent peer review showing that the menhaden population was in poor shape.

In a landmark decision in November 2011, the ASMFC responded. Over the next year the allowable menhaden catch will be cut as much as 37 percent from the 2010 harvest.

This doesn’t sit well with Omega Protein, the industrial fishing company responsible for 80 percent of the coast-wide menhaden catch — about a quarter billion pounds annually.

Frulla and Gehan have apparently been tasked with undermining the ASMFC’s decision, and have attempted to do so with their typical resourcefulness. Ignoring the scientific basis for the ASMFC vote, they argue that the terms of the debate have been set by H. Bruce Franklin, author of the meticulously researched book The Most Important Fish in the Sea. Frulla and Gehan call him a “science fiction expert.”

Then they repeat their usual arguments: that menhaden stock is “just about at target level of abundance” (yes, but only in terms of eggs, not fish that grow into the population); and that “overfishing occurred in only the last year of the assessment, 2008” (only if measured by the outdated reference points that the ASMFC replaced in November 2011 with new ones that reflect the latest peer-reviewed science).

But the most egregious part of Frulla and Gehan’s op-ed comes when the pair insults the Marine Stewardship Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service — the leading certifier of sustainable seafood, and the federal agency tasked with responsible stewardship of marine resources in the EEZ, respectively.

“Against well-reasoned, scientific counter-argument, the Marine Stewardship Council established a blanket certification standard of 75 percent of unfished abundance for ‘lower trophic level species,’ a.k.a forage fish,” Frulla and Gehan write.

I called Daniel Hoggarth, the Senior Fisheries Assessment Manager at the Marine Stewardship Council, to see if he had any clarification about what “well-reasoned scientific counter argument” Omega Protein’s lawyers were referring to.

“I don’t know what they mean – did they cite any counter-argument?” he asked.

None that I could see.

Hoggarth told me that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) spent years developing this policy, comparing the results from their technical team with other scientists doing similar work on forage species, as well as consulting widely on the policy with various interest groups, including commercial interests. Omega Protein, he said, did not participate in the process, although stakeholders were invited to comment.

“It’s common sense. If you have a stock which is a key species in these ecosystems — one species in the middle that is dominant and other species are dependent on it — you need to leave more of these key fish in the sea,” Hoggarth said.

The Marine Stewardship Council wasn’t Frulla and Gehnan’s only target. They also went after the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS): “This [menhaden advocacy campaign] is abetted by NMFS’ off-handed and statutorily unwarranted advice that council’s ‘consider’ managing such stocks above levels that produce maximum sustainable yield,” Frulla and Gehan write.

To explain the legalese in that sentence, I contacted Ken Stump, policy director for the Marine Fish Conservation Network.

“They are playing politics, trying to put enough of a dent in [NMFS’] armor to discredit them. They said ‘unwarranted,’ but didn’t use any specific legal language to back that up because there is none,” Stump said.

The “off-handed advice” cited by Omega’s legal team comes from NMFS’ 2009 revision to the 1998 National Standard Guidelines for National Standard 1, in which the agency acknowledged for the first time the importance of maintaining adequate forage for all components of the ecosystem.

One has to wonder what Eric Schwaab, the director of NMFS, must have thought when he opened his copy of the National Fisherman to see his regular column printed next to an attack on his agency by two Washington DC-based lawyers, paid to keep the regulatory climate favorable for the financial interests of Omega Protein.

“Gehan and Frulla have a set of different assumptions, and those assumptions don’t account for anything outside the fishery,” Ken Stump told me. “One lens is the lens that Shaun Gehan looks through that says the overfishing is barely occurring and the stock is in good shape. Then there is the other lens, this emerging generation of marine ecologists that says this species feeds the whole system.”

A recent landmark study on forage fish, published in the journal Science, and carried out by a team of researchers from across the globe, concluded that halving the exploitation rates of forage species like menhaden would significantly lower stress on marine ecosystems, while allowing for some commercial fishing opportunities.

For over a decade, Omega Protein was able to harvest as many menhaden from the Atlantic Ocean as they could find. Now, over 90,000 people and fisheries managers from every state along the coast, save Virginia, believe that is too much.

Clearly, news of the first coastwide harvest cap for menhaden has found Omega Protein and its litigators incredulous: they call the ASMFC coastal management program a form of “ecosystem micromanagement.”

Frulla is a partner and Gehan is an associate at the Kelley Drye firm in Washington DC. According to Kelley Drye’s financial filings, mandated under the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, Omega Protein has paid the firm 1.5 million over the last four years for their lobbying services.

Their disbelief, it seems, has a price.

Here is the link to this article where it was originally published.

The Outfall from Beantown – Menhaden Muddle #30 By Charlie Hutchinson

Most folks know that the ASMFC’s Menhaden Board has finally taken action to begin the process of restoring the menhaden population. The objectives are stated in two forms. One, a “threshold” or limit where if mortality has exceeded the anticipated level action to meet the objective of 15% of the mature stock left in the water must be taken. To make this goal achievable, a target equal to 30% left in the water was established. To achieve the target a reduction in harvest of 37% would be required using the 2010 harvest as a base. Reductions would apply to total landings which would impact both the bait and reduction industries. Currently the reduction industry takes +/- 80% of the harvest (all landings in Virginia) while the bait harvest takes up the other 20% up and down the Atlantic Seaboard While the objectives were clearly stated in Board action, a commitment to manage to the target was not. The implication is that this issue would be addressed in upcoming sessions where the methods to be employed to achieve these goals will be decided.

The business of allocating the allowable catch among the various interests will be difficult at best. For the first time it will be necessary to restrict income production from various business enterprises from a family operated pound net to Omega’s very sophisticated fishing and processing activities. It will become a pocketbook issue where all will suffer some, some more than others. There are no directives that specify that all participants would be curtailed equally, the Board has complete latitude in how they apportion the allowable catch if quota is the chosen method for management of the harvest. This immediately raises the concerns about jobs disappearing; how many and whose?

One of the documents which was produced just in advance of the November 9 meeting was the long awaited Economic Study by VIMS. This document contained some 226 pages. Given the timing, it is unlikely that the Commissioners paid much attention to its contents. The study covered only the area surrounding the Chesapeake Bay although decisions regarding menhaden are coastwide. The authors frankly admitted that a coastal evaluation was not feasible. Some of the data contained indicate that Omega’s sale volume has increased appreciably to $ 60,000,000, due for the most part to an increasing market for fish meal products without a commensurate increase in availability leading to rapidly increasing prices. Employment at Reedville was steady at 300 during peak periods. Seasonal labor is a significant factor as the data indicates roughly 100 employees during the slack season. Some of the other data in this voluminous document are quite interesting. One of the tables indicates that if total reduction harvest was limited to 81,000 metric tons the plant would be at break even. From an average harvest of 141,000 metric tons a cut of 40% would be required to put total employment in jeopardy. While reductions of as much as 37% from 2010 harvest of 183,000 metric tons have been calculated, it does appears, if the data is accurate, that severe reductions would in fact take place but the claim of 300 jobs does not seem valid. It could be that the issue of jobs and impact on the surrounding area is considerably less important than the loss of profit at the corporate level. A large portion of the study examines how people value fish left in the water versus employment at Reedville. I’ve really got to study this in more depth to see if such an evaluation is likely to accurately predict how people would react if given all the pertinent information .

Charlie Hutchinson is with the Maryland Saltwater Sportsman’s Foundation (MSSA). The views here are his own and do not necessarily express those of the entire Menhaden Coalition.

How Many Menhaden Do We Really Need? Part Two by Beau Beasley

For well over a century, commercial and recreational anglers have argued about menhaden harvesting. In the past few decades, however, conservationists?who may or may not be anglers?have also entered the fray, advocating for tighter controls on harvesting. The battle lines have been drawn between conservationists and recreational anglers on the one hand, who see commercial anglers as greedy and malevolent despoilers of our natural resources, and commercial anglers on the other hand, who argue that while others are out fishing for fun, they?re working these resources to provide for their families.

Once upon a time the East Coast menhaden industry was very strong, outstripping even the commercial whaling industry. More than 150 processing plants dotted the Eastern seaboard, with more than a dozen in the state of Maine alone. Docks were filled with millions of tons of menhaden that, when sold, catapulted the coastal towns that housed them to prosperity. Times have certainly changed: Now just one East Coast plant still operates. Houston-based Omega Protein, which has another processing center in Louisiana, is the largest harvester of menhaden in North America and is viewed by many as the prime culprit in dwindling menhaden stocks. Their East Coast fleet of nine ships, some of which can hold a million menhaden at a time, are a common sight in the Chesapeake Bay. The ships work closely with their spotter planes to find, harvest, and then deliver menhaden to their processing plant in Reedville, Virginia. The plant employs about 300 workers and processes millions of pounds of menhaden each season, turning the oily baitfish into industrial products like lubricants, heart-healthy food supplements, pet food, and, ironically, commercial fish food. The company?s industrial fishing fleet accounts for about 80 percent of the menhaden harvested on the East Coast.

The remaining 20 percent of menhaden is harvested commercially by much smaller independent operators like Lund Seafood in Cape May, New Jersey, which fishes for a variety of species and then sells those fish to customers along the East Coast. Ocean Bait Inc. of Weems, Virginia, is an even smaller commercial operator that sells all its fish to a single wholesaler, which in turn distributes the fish to points south. Occasionally packing limitations prevent Ocean Bait from processing all of the menhaden it catches, in which case it sells what is left over to Omega Protein. Most of the menhaden caught by smaller commercial anglers end up as bait for crabbers, lobstermen, and of course bait and tackle shops, which eventually resell to recreational anglers.

For many years conservationists, recreational anglers, and commercial fishermen have argued over just how many menhaden need to be left in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding area. Humans don?t eat menhaden, but just about everything else in the ocean does. Also known as bunker, pogie, and fatback, menhaden are a prime target for predator species and are crucial to the survival and health of other marine life like crabs, lobsters, ospreys, and even loons. (Menhaden, by the way, aren?t the only forage fish fly anglers should care about: Popular gamefish like trout, stripers, and bass eat spring runs of river herring and shad once they enter their natal rivers to spawn. Unfortunately, these river herring are also seeing their numbers decline precipitously.)

In November the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the agency that oversees menhaden and 23 other species of fish on the East Coast, met in Boston to decide the fate of the current menhaden stock. For some time now the ASMFC has been feeling the heat, as ordinary citizens sent more than 90,000 comments to the commissioners during the public comment period, with nearly all of the contributors calling for stricter harvest limits. And not without reason: The most recent stock assessment indicated that the menhaden population was at an all-time low and constituted about 8 percent of its historic size. Conservationists and recreational anglers have argued for years that fishery managers have allowed too many menhaden to be harvested; consequently, conservationists have pushed for a significant curtailment of commercial landings (recreational menhaden landings represent only about 1 percent of the menhaden harvested). The question before the commissioners in Boston was whether to adjust the fishing target, which is the percentage of the stock that must be left behind by harvesters to ensure a continuing healthy population of menhaden. As the fishing target goes up, harvesting levels must naturally go down.

?I?m not very hopeful,? said Paul Kennedy, a recreational angler from Warwick, Rhode Island, before the Boston meeting convened. ?I guess I?m jaded because I?m so used to recreational anglers being ignored.? Kennedy wasn?t the only angler who attended: Dozens of recreational anglers showed up to lobby on behalf of a little-known resource that they believe is in peril. Patrick Paquette, a recreational fishing advocate who bused recreational anglers from the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association, Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association, and Massachusetts Commercial Anglers Association (a rod and reel commercial harvesting organization), attended so that the ASMFC could see that behind the community of recreational anglers are real people with real names and faces and interests.

Imagine the anglers? surprise when commissioners voted to significantly raise the fishing target, thereby curtailing commercial fishing levels by an astounding 37 percent. (The vote was 14 to 3, with only Virginia, New Jersey, and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission dissenting.) This vote marked the first time that the ASMFC has ever moved to reduce commercial fishing levels?and commercial anglers were as stunned as conservationists were jubilant.

The new commercial fishing reductions will take effect in 2013; during the 2012 season the ASMFC will decide just where and how the new cuts in harvest will take place. Some want to see an across-the-board cut to all commercial landings split equally, while others hope to see all the reduction efforts taken out of Omega Protein?s landings.

Commercial anglers argue that there?s no science to back up the idea that leaving more adult menhaden in the ocean will mean better reproduction?and they?re right. After all, ASMFC suggests that the current population of menhaden is generating enough eggs to reproduce the stock. So why aren?t the eggs hatching to produce more juvenile menhaden? No one knows for sure. Some scientists suggest that pollution in the Chesapeake Bay?the largest menhaden breeding ground?and other environmental factors as well as cyclical spawning cycles are to blame. Conservationists counter that more menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay mean more food for stripers, blues, cobia, weakfish, and marine birds, which in turn bolsters the marine food chain that undergirds all the larger predator fish.

Following the contentious ASMFC vote, both sides took stock of the issue. ?I guess I?m not nearly as jaded now,? Paul Kennedy remarked, as he and other recreational anglers prepared to head home in victory. ?I think the ASMFC did a hell of a job today,? said Paquette. ?This could prove to be a history-making vote as far as the survival of menhaden goes.? Jay Odell, Mid-Atlantic Marine Program Director with the Nature Conservancy, was also impressed: ?I?m so pleased and relieved that after a decade of debate the ASMFC has now set a new course for menhaden in consideration of their critical role for forage for so many Atlantic Coast fishes, marine mammals, birds, and the long-term interests of people who depend on menhaden, too.?

But not all the folks in the audience were pleased with the decision ?What the commission did is akin to swatting a gnat with a sledgehammer,?? said Ron Lukens, a senior fisheries biologist for Omega Protein. ?It?s absolutely a disappointment. We knew we were going to take a cut, but this is a little too much to swallow.?? Jim Kellum of Ocean Bait Inc. was also let down by the vote. He pointed out that reduced fishing levels will no doubt result in job losses, and he believes that politics is often to blame for poor environmental management. In fact, it was rumored that certain governors had lobbied their state?s commissioners to vote a certain way on the issue. Kellum expressed an opinion common among anglers: ?I think that until the recreational sports fishermen and the commercial fishermen work together to take control of the environmental factors that are creating the cesspool that is becoming the Chesapeake Bay, things aren?t going to get any better.?
Beau Beasley is an award winning outdoor writer and the director of the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival. His new book Fly Fishing the Mid-Atlantic: A No Nonsense Guide to Top Waters was recently released.

This article originally appeared in Mid Current and we thank them for their permission to post here.

Menhaden Win News Clippings From This Past Week

Press clippings on the ASMFC’s recent passing of  Addendum V to Amendment 1.

Editorial: http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/finally-test-bays-little-fish

 

Editorial: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/rtd-opinion/2011/nov/14/tdopin01-fish-scales-ar-1456932/#fbcomments

 

Editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/opinion/protection-for-the-ocean-food-chain.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 

Editorial: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-menhaden-20111114,0,3702276.story

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/us/menhaden-catch-reduction-is-approved.html

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/menhaden-harvest-limit-sharply-cut-by-fisheries-commission/2011/11/09/gIQA7Twg6M_story.html

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/story/2011-11-09/fish-menhaden-catch-limits/51145100/1

 

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-11-09/features/bs-gr-menhaden-vote-20111104_1_menhaden-ken-hinman-omega-protein

 

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/green/2011/11/fishing_curb_voted_for_most_im.html

 

http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2011/11/regulators-act-preserve-menhaden-source-fish-oil-and-vital-link-ocean-food-chain/bd5xFUMdzoUiiBlxSMpnTN/index.html

 

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/fisheries-regulators-ok-menhaden-limits

 

http://www.app.com/article/20111109/NJNEWS/311090071/Big-reduction-in-menhaden-fishing

 

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/11/13/environment/can-the-oceans-continue-to-feed-us/

 

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/TOP/2011/11/10-43/Limits-set-of-East-Coast-menhaden-catch.html

 

http://www.mpbn.net/News/MPBNNews/tabid/1159/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3762/ItemId/18881/Default.aspx

 

http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dead-rise-blog/dp-panel-wants-to-boost-menhaden-levels-20111110,0,1622917.story?track=rss

 

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/11/largest-fishery-in-eastern-us-gets.html?ref=hp

 

http://www.ecori.org/front-page-journal/2011/11/10/menhaden-feed-local-fishing-economy.html

 

http://boatinglocal.com/fishing/victory-for-menhaden-declared-by-anglers-conservationists.html

 

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/10/saving-this-small-fish-can-help-save-the-ocean/

 

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20111109/NEWS08/111090341/Limits-menhaden-harvest-urged

 

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/112011/11142011/664459

 

http://www.warwickonline.com/stories/Experts-hope-new-measures-will-increase-menhaden-stocks-by-400,64724

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_sports/haven_for_haden_Al5E9UePiNDMMgyU3pU39H

 

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/11/little_fish_could_cause_big_wa.html

 

http://www.daggerpress.com/2011/11/15/kunkel-menhaden-the-treasure-of-the-chesapeake-finally-getting-a-chance/

 

http://news.rutgers.edu/focus/issue.2011-11-01.7594385105/article.2011-11-15.2416042442

 

http://www.ctpost.com/sports/article/Good-news-bad-news-for-recreational-anglers-2266145.php

 

http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&country=0&special=&monthyear=&day=&id=47538&ndb=1&df=0

 

http://www.nj.com/shore/blogs/fishing/index.ssf/2011/11/ristori_one_step_closer_to_ame.html

 

http://www.theday.com/article/20111111/NWS01/311119964/-1/NWS

 

http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewStory/story_ID/25016/d/11112011

 

Menhaden Get a Win

Last week the ASMFC Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board approved Addendum V to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. The Addendum establishes a new interim fishing mortality threshold and target (based on maximum spawning potential or MSP) with the goal of increasing abundance, spawning stock biomass, and menhaden availability as a forage species. The new threshold and target equates to a MSP of 15% and 30%, respectively. The Board has
initiated development of an amendment to establish management measures for all fishing sectors and gear types to implement the new fishing mortality reference points. The percent of harvest reductions associated with the new reference points as well as an implementation process and timeline will be identified in the Draft Amendment.

The MSP approach identifies the fishing mortality rate necessary to maintain a given level of stock reproductive potential relative to the potential maximum stock productivity under unfished conditions. A 15% MSP would equate to a fishing mortality rate threshold required to maintain approximately 15% of the spawning potential of an unfished stock. An unfished stock is equal to 100% MSP. Given the current fishing mortality equates to a MSP of approximately 8%, the new reference points are intended to provide increased protection for spawning adults, which given optimal environmental conditions, may result in increased juvenile abundance. This approach is consistent with the recommendations of the 2009 stock assessment peer review panel.

With the newly adopted fishing mortality reference points, the fishing mortality threshold is set at F= 1.32 and the target is set at F= 0.62. Based on the revised 2009 Atlantic menhaden stock assessment and the new fishing mortality threshold, overfishing is occurring. Fishing mortality in 2008 (the latest year in the assessment) is estimated at 2.28. Based on the current reference point to evaluate stock condition, Atlantic menhaden are not overfished.

The first step in the amendment process will be the development of a Public Information Document (PID), which will contain preliminary discussions of biological, environmental, social, and economic information, fishery issues, and potential management options for action. The PID also provides for public input about changes observed in the fisheries; actions that should or should not be taken in terms of management, regulation, enforcement, and research; and any other concerns about the resources or the fisheries. A Draft PID will be presented to the Board at the Commission’s Winter Meeting in February 2012.

This is how the the National Coalition of Marine Conservation summed things up
MENHADEN VICTORY BENEFITS ALL

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.

This is how Stephen Medeiros, President of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association summed things up:

The “Pogey Bus” traveled from RI to Boston yesterday taking a bunch of RISAA members to the ASMFC Menhaden Management Board’s meeting in Boston.
Here is a report on what happened: A VICTORY FOR MENHADEN! – Steve

The ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Board (Board) voted new management measures that should end overfishing and increase the coastal menhaden stock to new sustainable numbers.

For the past several years, fishermen and environmental groups have complained that the amount of menhaden taken by the reduction industry – measured in metric tons – needed to be restricted. But commercial interests, especially in Virginia, the home of Omega Protein which takes 80% of the entire coastal catch, resisted changes.
In 2010 alone, Omega Protein harvested 160,000 metric tons (404 million pounds) which is reduced (ground up) for fish meal and oil used in pet food, livestock and aquaculture feed, paints and cosmetics.

Finally, the science caught up with the reports of fishermen and showed that overfishing WAS occurring on the coastwide stock of menhaden, the “most important fish in the sea.”
The Menhaden Board charged their Menhaden Technical Committee (made up of marine biologists from participating states) to come up with a suite of possible management measures that would be put out to to the public on how much change should be made, and then how to implement any changes.

Over the past several months, public hearings were held along the Atlantic Coast., and the Board received a report on the hearings at the start of the meeting.
(Many RISAA members were in attendance. The RISAA goal was a 15% threshold and 30% target.)

The public hearing comments and individual letters received totaled over 91,000.

THE VOTES
The Menhaden Management Board is comprised of three commissioners from each of the 15 Atlantic coastal states, although each state gets one vote so the commissioners usually caucus to determine their state’s vote. Also on the Board is the National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife and Potomac River Commission.

The first order of business was whether or not to change the management threshold. At the current threshold, according to the latest stock analysis, the fishery was not overfished, but overfishing is occurring. Two options were presented:

1. Status Quo (no change)
2. Change threshold to 15% of Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP). This means if the mature population of menhaden falls below 15% it will be considered overfished.
Of the public comments received, 91,141 were in favor of 15% and 35 said status quo.
The vote by the Board was taken and they agreed by unanimous vote to change the threshold to 15%.

Next was the decision on a new management Target ( how much of the mature fish must be left in the water). The options were;
1. Status Quo (no change)
2. 20% of MSP (would require a 27% catch reduction over 2010 levels)
3. 30% of MSP (37% reduction over 2010)
4. 40% of MSP (45% reduction over 2010)

There was much discussion from various state board members. Finally, Lynn Fegley (Maryland) made a motion to change the target to 30% of MSP. This was seconded by Rep. Peake (Massachusetts), but quickly an amendment to that motion was then proposed by Jack Travelstead (Virginia, home of Omega Protein) to change the proposal to 20% of MSP, seconded by Peter Himchak (New Jersey). Much discussion followed on the amended motion and finally a vote was taken 5 in favor of amendment, 12 opposed. The motion for 20% failed.
Rhode Island voted in favor of the 20% motion along with VA. (We were disappointed in our state’s vote – Steve)

Once the amended motion failed, the original motion of 30% was put to a vote.
This final vote passed 14 – 3, with only Virginia, New Jersey and Potomac voting no.
(Rhode Island now changed it’s vote to go with the majority this time)

So, the result was now a 15% Threshold and 30% Target, exactly what we hoped for!
This was definitely a win for menhaden.

The work is not yet done. Now that we have new targets in place, the ASMFC must come up with ways to achieve them.
Rhode Island is the “poster child” of menhaden management with closed areas, restrictions on nets, observers and fly-overs, school counts, etc. Other states don’t do this, and the ASMFC will have to come up a new suite of measures to control catches.
Many possible proposals had been included in the coastal public hearings that had been held, and those results will now be used to help decide future regulations. We can expect more meetings and more public hearings during 2012 before the final management plan is in place.
Steve

There were many others who summed things up in emails, news paper articles and put out press releases, but I think the above gives you a flavor for what is being said.

We’d be doing a disservice to single out certain groups or individuals for all their hard work in the effort, with out question the result was because of everyone’s hard work. We thank all those involved and congratulate everyone on a win. We still have work to do, but I am greatly encouraged by how far we’ve come, where we are and the good things to come for menhaden.

Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane – Menhaden Fighting over an underappreciated little fish

Menhaden has been called “the most important fish in the sea,” but the bony little fish barely registers on most people’s consciousness. And, some fishermen and scientists say that the fish, also known as bunker, is barely registering on fish sonar or in their nets, at least compared to its historical abundance — though that is hotly contested by others. Menhaden is a staple of sport fishing as bait and chum, but its even more central to one of the largest commercial fisheries on the East Coast, which captures large quantities of the fish and grinds it down into fishmeal, a key part of the diet of chicken and cows we eat, and fish oil, which is one of the most popular food-additives out there. Now, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is about to put new rules in place for the menhaden fishery, and the men and women who pursue the fish are weighing in on them. Joining us to make sense of the dispute, and why we should care about this easily overlooked fish, are H. BRUCE FRANKLIN, a Rutgers English professor whose 2008 book, The Most Important Fish in the Sea, made its case for menhaden right there in the title. We’ll also be joined by Capt. PAUL EIDMAN, who runs Reel Therapy fishing charters out of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and founded Menhaden Defenders to promote conservation-minded angling and unity within the recreational fishing community. And we’ll hear from JEFF KAELIN, of Cape May-based Lund’s Fisheries, one of the largest seafood companies on the Eastern Seaboard, and an officer with the Sustainable Fisheries Coalition.

Listen to the mp3

Full Article click here

Menhaden Matter

A good summary on menhaden

[Source: Pew Environment Group]