vanstaal
03-02-2007, 10:20 AM
The following editorial appeared in today's Providence Journal:
For Bay, fishermen, save menhaden
01:00 AM EST on Friday, March 2, 2007
JOHN TORGAN
OFTEN CALLED “the most important fish in the sea,” Atlantic menhaden are key to the ecosystem of Narragansett Bay. These silvery fish were once so abundant in local waters they were the most valuable commercial fishery in Rhode Island.
Old-timers tell tales of massive schools stretching from shore to shore as striped bass, bluefish and a wide range of seabirds and marine life feasted on them in spectacular displays seen for miles.
In an editorial last summer (“Save the menhaden,” Aug. 30), The Journal was right to call for stronger conservation measures, as was Steve Medeiros of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (“Marvelous menhaden,” Commentary, Sept. 18). The response criticizing The Journal and Mr. Medeiros (“Fishing no threat to Narragansett Bay,” Commentary, Sept. 24), by Niels Moore, came from an industry lobby group called the Menhaden Resource Council. The council, by emphatically denying any problem with overfishing, is obviously more concerned with protecting its members than the resource it was established to steward.
Critics of menhaden conservation claim that menhaden stocks are perfectly healthy and that commercial fishermen remove an insignificant amount. That’s clearly not the case. It’s true that good information on the state of local fish stocks is limited. However, the best available scientific data for the Chesapeake Bay show significant declines in both adult menhaden stocks and, most alarmingly, a drop in the return of juveniles to New England waters.
A report to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission last summer by the Chesapeake Bay Ecological Foundation concluded that menhaden are being overfished coast-wide, and that the stock is demonstrating signs of collapse as fish are being harvested before they get the chance to spawn. The rosier federal stock assessment touted by critics fails utterly to account for what happens in estuaries like Narragansett Bay, focusing on an apparently large, amorphous population of fish at sea without regard to local variation.
Protecting menhaden in Narragansett Bay is an investment in conservation that will ultimately benefit commercial, recreational and lobster fisheries, and ensure the future of this struggling resource. A bill pending before the Rhode Island legislature would prohibit commercial seining in Narragansett Bay. This bill has sparked intense debate between lobstermen, who use menhaden for bait, and recreational anglers who believe that the practice of seining is depleting the local fish population. Picking recreational over commercial fishermen is really a false choice, since proper management will allow both sectors to benefit into the future.
Beyond their economic importance to our fishermen, menhaden actually contribute to a cleaner, healthier Bay. Each adult menhaden filter-feeds four gallons per minute, removing huge quantities of plankton tied to nutrient pollution, low oxygen, and poor water quality. Large schools of menhaden filter billions of gallons over the course of a season, and help to maintain a natural balance of water chemistry.
These fish also provide forage for all game-fish species, birds, marine mammals like seals, and just about every other creature that eats fish. In a sense, menhaden are the Bay’s best natural response and feedback mechanism to pollution from sewage, fertilizers and stormwater runoff.
Critics of conservation also contend that restricting commercial harvest of menhaden in the Bay is really just a “fish grab” by one user group — the recreational fishermen — and has nothing to do with the health of fish stocks and the Bay. That argument fails to hold water, as the ecological importance of menhaden has long been established in the scientific literature.
It should not be overlooked that Narragansett Bay has become a world-class sportfishing destination, directly generating $160 million dollars a year for the state of Rhode Island. We are not taking sides in the user group conflict; Save the Bay believes that conservation is the best approach for everyone.
Strong conservation measures in other states are already yielding promising results. New Jersey banned commercial netting of menhaden in its inland waters in 2000, and that state is already enjoying the first large schools of adult menhaden in recent history. A few of these schools, though not as big as those of the 1970s, even made it up into Narragansett Bay for the first time in anyone’s recent memory in 2005 and 2006.
As the late Sen. John Chafee once said, “Just give nature half a chance.” The people of Rhode Island should give menhaden that chance by taking strong steps now to save menhaden for people and for the environment.
John Torgan is Narragansett BayKeeper with Save the Bay.
For Bay, fishermen, save menhaden
01:00 AM EST on Friday, March 2, 2007
JOHN TORGAN
OFTEN CALLED “the most important fish in the sea,” Atlantic menhaden are key to the ecosystem of Narragansett Bay. These silvery fish were once so abundant in local waters they were the most valuable commercial fishery in Rhode Island.
Old-timers tell tales of massive schools stretching from shore to shore as striped bass, bluefish and a wide range of seabirds and marine life feasted on them in spectacular displays seen for miles.
In an editorial last summer (“Save the menhaden,” Aug. 30), The Journal was right to call for stronger conservation measures, as was Steve Medeiros of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (“Marvelous menhaden,” Commentary, Sept. 18). The response criticizing The Journal and Mr. Medeiros (“Fishing no threat to Narragansett Bay,” Commentary, Sept. 24), by Niels Moore, came from an industry lobby group called the Menhaden Resource Council. The council, by emphatically denying any problem with overfishing, is obviously more concerned with protecting its members than the resource it was established to steward.
Critics of menhaden conservation claim that menhaden stocks are perfectly healthy and that commercial fishermen remove an insignificant amount. That’s clearly not the case. It’s true that good information on the state of local fish stocks is limited. However, the best available scientific data for the Chesapeake Bay show significant declines in both adult menhaden stocks and, most alarmingly, a drop in the return of juveniles to New England waters.
A report to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission last summer by the Chesapeake Bay Ecological Foundation concluded that menhaden are being overfished coast-wide, and that the stock is demonstrating signs of collapse as fish are being harvested before they get the chance to spawn. The rosier federal stock assessment touted by critics fails utterly to account for what happens in estuaries like Narragansett Bay, focusing on an apparently large, amorphous population of fish at sea without regard to local variation.
Protecting menhaden in Narragansett Bay is an investment in conservation that will ultimately benefit commercial, recreational and lobster fisheries, and ensure the future of this struggling resource. A bill pending before the Rhode Island legislature would prohibit commercial seining in Narragansett Bay. This bill has sparked intense debate between lobstermen, who use menhaden for bait, and recreational anglers who believe that the practice of seining is depleting the local fish population. Picking recreational over commercial fishermen is really a false choice, since proper management will allow both sectors to benefit into the future.
Beyond their economic importance to our fishermen, menhaden actually contribute to a cleaner, healthier Bay. Each adult menhaden filter-feeds four gallons per minute, removing huge quantities of plankton tied to nutrient pollution, low oxygen, and poor water quality. Large schools of menhaden filter billions of gallons over the course of a season, and help to maintain a natural balance of water chemistry.
These fish also provide forage for all game-fish species, birds, marine mammals like seals, and just about every other creature that eats fish. In a sense, menhaden are the Bay’s best natural response and feedback mechanism to pollution from sewage, fertilizers and stormwater runoff.
Critics of conservation also contend that restricting commercial harvest of menhaden in the Bay is really just a “fish grab” by one user group — the recreational fishermen — and has nothing to do with the health of fish stocks and the Bay. That argument fails to hold water, as the ecological importance of menhaden has long been established in the scientific literature.
It should not be overlooked that Narragansett Bay has become a world-class sportfishing destination, directly generating $160 million dollars a year for the state of Rhode Island. We are not taking sides in the user group conflict; Save the Bay believes that conservation is the best approach for everyone.
Strong conservation measures in other states are already yielding promising results. New Jersey banned commercial netting of menhaden in its inland waters in 2000, and that state is already enjoying the first large schools of adult menhaden in recent history. A few of these schools, though not as big as those of the 1970s, even made it up into Narragansett Bay for the first time in anyone’s recent memory in 2005 and 2006.
As the late Sen. John Chafee once said, “Just give nature half a chance.” The people of Rhode Island should give menhaden that chance by taking strong steps now to save menhaden for people and for the environment.
John Torgan is Narragansett BayKeeper with Save the Bay.