Bay Journal, Interstate board delays decision to cut menhaden catch in Chesapeake Bay
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has delayed moving ahead with a proposal to place new limits on the Chesapeake Bay harvest of menhaden by a Virginia fishing fleet.
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The Bay reduction fishery harvest is capped at 51,000 metric tons, but the commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board agreed last October to consider multiple options for distributing that catch more evenly throughout the year or reducing it overall by up to 50%. They did so in response to claims that the Virginia fleet was depriving Maryland watermen of menhaden to catch for use as bait. Ocean Harvesters has disputed those claims, submitting a pair of studies to support its position.
Board members bogged down in debate over the options and decided to put off a vote on releasing them for public comment. Instead, the board established a workgroup to refine the draft and bring it back for consideration at their next meeting in August.
In the meantime, the commission has not yet received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration the $2.5 million that Congress approved to study the Bay’s menhaden population. Bob Beal, commission executive director, said it was preparing to seek bids for the study once NOAA relays the money. The Science Center for Marine Fisheries, meanwhile, announced it is going ahead with its industry-backed research “roadmap” to study the Bay’s menhaden. Scientists will meet with Ocean Harvesters staff on May 12 to begin making plans for a menhaden tagging feasibility study.
A Menhaden tagging study? Good luck with that, the damn things die if you look at them crossly.
