Green Blog: Battle Brews Over a Small, Vital Fish

The fate of a nondescript fish called the menhaden will be the focus of debate on Friday when the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meets in Baltimore to consider whether a catch limit should be imposed to end what many groups see as the outright exploitation of the species. So far, environmental groups, recreational and commercial fishermen, birders and others have generated over 100,000 comments in favor of protecting the fish.

The menhaden, a member of the herring family that measures 12 to 15 inches long as an adult, provides food for several larger ocean fish as well as dolphins, whales and seabirds. As a forage feeder, the fish functions as a sieve for plankton, turning it into protein and fat that nourishes creatures further up the food chain.

?Menhaden are really the linchpin species in the food web,? said Peter Baker, director of the Pew Environment Group?s Northeast Fisheries Program.

Some environmentalists contend that overfishing in recent decades has cut the population by 90 percent. ?Traditionally we had tremendous menhaden runs, and now they are episodic,? Mr. Baker said.

While the fish is not favored at the dinner table ? it is both bony and oily ? in processed form it provides the nutrients for fertilizer, animal feed at factory farms and omega-rich diet supplements.

That?s the basis for a thriving industry that removes billions of menhaden from the Atlantic every year, and opponents have cast the spotlight on one company that they argue benefits disproportionately: Omega Protein, a manufacturer of fertilizer and animal feed, lifts an estimated 80 percent of the menhaden catch in the mid-Atlantic, primarily between North Carolina and New Jersey, Pew estimates.

Other ocean creatures suffer, Mr. Baker said, ?and what I mean by suffer is that they can?t find enough high-fat, high-protein food to eat.? This has contributed to a decline in the striped bass population, for instance, he said.

Fishery protection groups are appealing to the commission to impose catch limit off the mid-Atlantic that would reduce the current take of menhaden by as much as 50 percent. Decisions by the commission, created by Congress, have the force of law.

For Omega Protein, that is a major threat, said Ben Landry, a company spokesman. The company supports 300 employees, most of them fishermen as their fathers were before them, he said. A 50 percent cut would force the company?s plant in Reedville, Va., ?to shut down tomorrow,? he said.
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?The last thing we want to do is bury our heads in the sand if there?s really an issue,? Mr. Landry said. He said the demand for a 50 percent reduction was based on ?a lot of cloudy science,? adding that the most recent stock assessment of the menhaden had produced ?unreliable results.? Omega Protein is willing to accept a 16 percent reduction in the catch, he added.

Erik Williams, a fisheries biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s Southeast Fisheries Science Center who was involved in this year?s menhaden stock count, said there were some loose ends in the data.

Time pressures meant that the stock assessment team had to update the information quickly, leaving some uncertainties in its analysis. Its members advised that a more thorough investigation be carried out.

?The population is definitely not in its most healthy condition,? Dr. Williams said, ?but the problem is that we don?t know where it is according to what we call benchmarks,? which would size up the menhaden?s status more precisely.

All the same, he said, the call for a strict catch limit is based not so much on the stock assessment data, which focuses strictly on the menhaden?s status, as it is on the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole. Dr. Williams said that ecosystem data is not particularly solid, either, however, although the fisheries commission has determined that the menhaden is being overfished.

The arguments on each side echo other conflicts between industry and conservation. Omega Protein contends that a hasty solution could leave its employees in the lurch; Mr. Baker contends that the cuts would not disrupt the industry and that the company has ?created a false dichotomy between jobs and the environment.?

If the industry is worried about jobs, he said, it should look to the cod fishery in the northwestern Atlantic, where a failure to protect and rebuild fish stocks severely compromised employment. ?We don?t want to see that for menhaden,? he said.

Friday?s meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time; interested parties can register to watch online or to listen by telephone.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/battle-brews-over-a-small-vital-fish/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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