Littoral​ Society

  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Conservation
    • Education
    • Advocacy
    • Fish Tagging
    • Presentations
  • Where We Work
    • Sandy Hook
    • Barnegat Bay
    • Delaware Bay
    • Jamaica Bay
    • Sarasota Bay
  • Who We Are
    • History
    • Staff
    • Officers & Trustees
    • Financial Accountability
    • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice
    • Contact
  • Newsroom
    • Littoral News
    • Press Releases
    • Videos
    • Publications
    • Reports
  • Blog
  • Join Us
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Fish Tagging Membership
    • Sponsor
    • Upcoming Events
    • Overnight Trips
    • Volunteer
    • Jobs
  • Store
  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Conservation
    • Education
    • Advocacy
    • Fish Tagging
    • Presentations
  • Where We Work
    • Sandy Hook
    • Barnegat Bay
    • Delaware Bay
    • Jamaica Bay
    • Sarasota Bay
  • Who We Are
    • History
    • Staff
    • Officers & Trustees
    • Financial Accountability
    • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice
    • Contact
  • Newsroom
    • Littoral News
    • Press Releases
    • Videos
    • Publications
    • Reports
  • Blog
  • Join Us
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Fish Tagging Membership
    • Sponsor
    • Upcoming Events
    • Overnight Trips
    • Volunteer
    • Jobs
  • Store

The Society Blog

Advocacy Organizations Call on AFMSC to Complete Action for Protecting Menhaden

10/20/2020

 
Picture
Purse seine boats encircling a school of menhaden. Photo by Robert K. Brigham from the NOAA's Fisheries Collection.
A number of organizations called on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to follow through on efforts to help protect a crucial fish species. That effort was rewarded on Oct. 28 with a vote by ASMFC's Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to reduce the Atlantic menhaden quota by 10 percent.

The decision established a quota of 194,400 metric tons for the 2021 and 2022 fishing years. Atlantic menhaden are a primary food source for numerous sportfish populations, especially striped bass.

 
Menhaden have been called the "most important fish in the sea." In the bays and estuaries of the east coast they create a vital connection between the bottom and top of the food chain.
 
They eat tiny plants and animals and are a rich food source for many predator fish — including rockfish (striped bass), bluefish, and weakfish, as well as ospreys, bald eagles, dolphins, and whales.
 
Menhaden migrate along the Atlantic coast from Florida to Maine. ASMFC, an interstate governing body manages the fishery for the 15 states that share the coastline.
Earlier in the year, ASMFC adopted a new method for determining how many menhaden can be taken because of their importance in the food chain and because of the increasing pressure being placed on the species by industrial fishing companies that have been strip-mining menhaden for reduction to food for people and animals, supplements such as fish oil, bait for fishing, and ingredients for products such as lipstick.   
 
The American Littoral Society and partner organizations followed the decision to adopt the new method with a call for the Commission to follow through on that visionary decision by implementing "this new system by setting a coast-wide catch limit that is likely to succeed" in helping menhaden to return to sustainable levels.
 
Read the letter below.
- - -
Dear ASMFC New Jersey Representatives,
 
Today the undersigned ask New Jersey’s delegation to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to demonstrate conservation leadership when voting to establish the 2021-2022 coast-wide Total Allowable Catch limits for Atlantic Menhaden at the upcoming Atlantic Menhaden Management Board meeting on October 20th.
 
Atlantic menhaden serve as forage for striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, summer flounder, bluefin tuna and other species that drive the recreational fishing economy in the state of New Jersey, as well as whales, dolphins, birds that contribute to ecotourism activities.
 
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s visionary action in August 2020 to adopt Ecological Reference Points for Atlantic menhaden management was an important acknowledgement of the key role menhaden play in the ecosystem. Now, at its October meeting, the Commission must effectively implement this new system by setting a coast-wide catch limit that is likely to succeed in meeting the new ecological target.
 
Specifically, we request that the New Jersey delegation to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission advocate and vote for a 2021-2022 Total Allowable Catch limit (TAC) that the Commission’s own scientific advisors predict will have no more than a 50% probability of exceeding the newly adopted Ecological Reference Point Target Fishing Mortality. Given the poor condition of other forage species, especially Atlantic herring, the Board should adopt an additional conservation buffer to assure adequate forage for striped bass and other species.
 
According to the Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee, the TAC that would lead to a 50% probability of exceeding the new ecosystem target fishing mortality rate for 2021-2022 (combined) is 176,800 mt per year. While this TAC represents an approximate 18% reduction from the current 216,000 mt TAC, it is similar to the TACs implemented for 2013-2014 (170,800 mt) and for 2015-2016 (187,880 mt). Setting the Total Allowable Catch at this level or lower would better position forage fish availability to facilitate the coast-wide recovery of striped bass, bluefish, and weakfish to their target levels.
 
There are many reasons that New Jersey State delegation to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission should not consider Atlantic menhaden catch limits that have less than a flip of a coin chance of maintaining fishing mortality rates at or below the newly adopted Ecosystem Based Reference Point target, not the least of which is that doing so would be inconsistent with the leadership that the New Jersey State legislature and Governor Murphy have already taken on conservation.
 
We thank you for your ongoing managerial leadership and we look forward to collaborating with you to rebuild striped bass and other key species managed by the ASMFC.
 
Sincerely
Fred Akers
Administrator
Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association
 
Benson Chiles
Board Member
Founding Fish Alliance
 
Tim Dillingham
Executive Director
American Littoral Society
 
Paul Eidman
Menhaden Defenders Founder
JCAA Forage Fish Chairman
Hi Mar Striper Club
Tom White
11/2/2020 08:02:08 pm

Go to it!


Comments are closed.
    BLOG HOME

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

     Subscribe in a reader

    Categories

    All
    5k
    Action
    Advocacy
    Amazon
    Art
    Asbury Park
    Ballot Question
    Barnegat
    Bay
    Beach
    Benefit
    Biomedical
    Breakfree
    Camp
    Celebration
    Cleanup
    Climate
    Coast
    Conservation
    Crafts
    Delaware Bay
    Delbay
    Drilling
    Dune
    Dune Grass
    Earth Day
    Earthday
    Economy
    Eggs
    Election
    Estuary
    Event
    Family
    Fishing
    Fun
    Global Warming
    Horseshoe Crab
    Jamaicabay
    Legislation
    Litter
    Live Music
    Lobster
    Long Beach Island
    Marine Science
    NJ
    NY
    Oil
    Open Space
    Oyster
    Oystere
    Parade
    Party
    Plastic
    Policy
    Pollution
    Protect
    Race
    Rain Garden
    Red Knot
    Reef
    Restoration
    River
    Run
    Sandy Hook
    Shark Fin
    Shell-a-bration
    Shell Bagging
    Shore
    Shorebird
    Summer
    Superstorm Sandy
    Surfcasting
    Tag
    Tagging
    Tourism
    Volunteer
    Wetlands
    Wreck Pond

     Subscribe in a reader

Picture
18 Hartshorne Drive
​Highlands, NJ 07732

What We Do

Education
Conservation
Restoration
Advocacy
Fish Tagging

Where We Work

Sandy Hook
Barnegat Bay
Delaware Bay
Jamaica Bay
Sarasota Bay
National Policy

Who We Are

History
Staff
Officers & ​Trustees
Financials
Contact

Newsroom

Blog
Press Releases
Videos
Publications
Reports

Join Us

Memberships
Donate
Sponsor
Upcoming Events
Field Trips
Volunteer
Jobs
Donate
Membership
Mailing List
Volunteer
Privacy Policy
Copyright ​© 2017, American Littoral Society, All Rights Reserved
Photo from A. Strakey