Limits may be placed on menhaden catch

Environmentalists, sportsmen and some politicians have been trying in vain for years to cut the harvest of menhaden, a small but ecologically important fish, in the Chesapeake Bay and other coastal waters. Now, it seems they finally will get their way.

Curiously, the trigger for the anticipated catch reductions, which will be voted on this week at a conference in Boston, was a math error.

Scientists discovered the glitch while reviewing a new study of menhaden populations along the Atlantic coast. After correcting it, they found that overfishing had occurred in 32 out of the past 54 years, though only once in the past decade, in 2008, have commercial fishermen netted too many menhaden.

Combined with chronically low birth rates and fewer fish along the coast, the error spurred regulators with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to conclude that new protections probably are needed.

When the commission meets Wednesday in Boston, member states from Maine to Florida will vote on proposals that could cut annual harvests between 23 percent and 45 percent. There also is a leave-it-alone option on the table, but few see that passing.

For Virginia, the stakes are especially high.

The town of Reedville, just off the Chesapeake Bay on the Northern Neck peninsula, hosts the only industrial menhaden-processing plant left on the East Coast. It is the biggest employer in the rural region, turning tons of the oily little species into pet food, livestock fodder, fish oil and omega-3 health supplements.

Reedville has been a menhaden hub for more than 120 years. The catch last year - 426.1 million pounds - made the town the second-biggest fishing port by weight in the United States, with a haul worth more than $34 million.

Omega Protein Inc., a Texas-based company that owns the Reedville plant, is fighting the proposed limits, saying they are not needed, may not do any good and will only lead to economic cutbacks and probably job losses.

"Everyone wants to think there's a great crisis out there," said Ben Landry, a company spokesman. "But let me tell you, there's no crisis. We've had overfishing just once - by 1 percentage point, mind you - since 1997. And we're going to pass these limits during a terrible recession? For what?"

Conservationists, however, say the changes are long overdue. Menhaden, they argue, are filter feeders that help purge the Bay of excessive phytoplankton that harm water quality. The fish, which humans do not eat, are devoured by many popular game fish that sportsmen covet in the Bay and along the coast, including striped bass, bluefish and weakfish.

"This is a huge deal," said Chris Moore, a scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Norfolk. "Finally, we might soon be able to start rebuilding this vital fishery, recognizing this is not just an economic issue but an ecological one, too."

The proposals have sparked opinions along the entire coast, with the Atlantic commission reporting that it has received more than 91,000 public comments. Most support the changes.

Conservationists and sports fishermen have urged Virginia politicians for decades to impose catch limits on menhaden, saying it would help restore the Bay, re-establish a key link in the food chain and improve stocks of game fish. But each time, lawmakers have said no, in part because of Omega's political clout in Richmond.

Menhaden is the only fish species managed by state legislators; all others in coastal waters are overseen by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. Efforts to change this unusual equation have also failed.

Jack Travelstead, state fisheries director, will represent Virginia at the commission meeting in Boston. He said the state will support an option setting a new threshold for overfishing that would lead to a 23 percent harvest reduction; it is the same option that Omega endorses.

"We can't support the proposed targets," which would lead to larger reductions, Travelstead said. "They would have too much impact on the industry, and there's no certainty of any benefits from them."

Studies indicate natural conditions - winds, tides, currents - have more influence on menhaden spawning than the number of adult fish in the water. So, Travelstead and others argue, even using catch limits to allow more adults to spawn does not necessarily mean more babies will result.

He also said the cuts will harm a growing industry in Virginia and elsewhere, in which menhaden are netted and sold as bait for blue crabs and other species, including lobsters in Massachusetts and Maine.

While the commission will vote on new thresholds and targets for the Atlantic population, how exactly those resulting reductions will occur will be decided later. Strategies such as a new quota, or closed seasons, or gear restrictions will be hashed out in the months ahead.

Then, each state legislature from Maine to Florida must endorse the rules, which means Omega's political clout may again play a role in Virginia. However, if state lawmakers refuse to adopt the limits, they can be deemed in noncompliance, a status that can lead the federal government to shut down the entire fishery.

"We doubt it could ever get that far," said Moore, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation scientist, "but weirder things have happened when it comes to menhaden."

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com