Victory for Menhaden Declared by Anglers

[Soundbounder]

Victory for Menhaden Declared by Anglers, Conservationists

At its annual meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, the Atlantic States Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Board yesterday (November 9) approved new management measures that aim to end the overfishing of menhaden and increase coastal stocks to sustainable numbers.

The board voted to set a harvest target of 30% of Maximum Spawning Potential (MSP). MSP is the total number of adult menhaden in the population, under an unfished-stock scenario. To achieve this goal, the current harvest will need to be reduced by 37% when the new measures are implemented.

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

[Soundbounder]

Good article by Al Ristori in the Star-Ledger last week:

The primary exploiter of the resource is Omega Protein, a large corporation that catches millions of pounds to be reduced into fish meal and oils at its factory in Reedville, Va. The company’s giant reduction boats have been banned from state waters, but in Virginia it’s allowed to purse seine even in Chesapeake Bay, where most of the approximately 160,000 metric tons the company boated last year came from.

Though still abundant, the present volume of menhaden is historically small. The American Sportfishing Association noted that menhaden stocks have declined 88 percent over the last 25 years, and are at their lowest numbers in recorded history. Anglers are also worried about the lack of young-of-the-year “peanut” bunkers that have seemed to be missing this fall.

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