New Regs on the Commercial Menhaden Fishery in RI

[JohnR]

For Release: July 3, 2007
Contact: Gail Mastrati
Stephanie Powell

DEM FILES EMERGENCY REGULATIONS REGARDING COMMERCIAL MENHADEN FISHERY THAT TAKE EFFECT TODAY
PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management today filed emergency regulations regarding the commercial menhaden fishery that become effective at 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 3.

The regulations, which apply to purse seining, provides a possession limit of 75,000 pounds of menhaden per vessel per day, whether fishing or transiting Rhode Island waters. The regulations also require advance notice to DEM of intent to fish or transit as well as daily reporting of landings. The commercial fishery will be open Mondays through Fridays, except for official state holidays, from sunrise to sunset until the fishery is closed. The daily cap will be adjusted as necessary, with fishermen notified when they call in their advance notice. Those giving advance notice to fish via purse seining for menhaden in Rhode Island waters, and those with purse seining equipment intending to transit Rhode Island waters with menhaden aboard should call DEM's enforcement office at 222-3070.

An estimated eight million pounds of menhaden migrated into Narragansett Bay waters through June, and DEM scientists estimate four million pounds are necessary to maintain Bay health and an excellent feed base for other fish like striped bass. Slightly more than two million pounds have been landed by commercial fishing operations. There are now less than two million pounds available to the commercial fishery. If more than two million pounds are harvested there will be an adverse impact upon the menhaden fishery and the ecosystems which it supports. DEM will continue to monitor regularly to see if there is any new migration, and, if so, adjust the cap upwards accordingly.

Menhaden are an important contributor to the health of the bay and the ecosystem, as well as the economy. They are a bait fish for the lobster fishery, attract striped bass, and are a valuable recreational fishery.

From: Rhode Island DEM

[afterhours]

..the commercials are allowed to kill 50% of our menhaden guess the menhaden bill was'nt really needed....right jan malik?

[eelman]

Does Nothing.........Smoke and mirrors.....Get ready cause DEM wants something..

Lets see...As of a week ago DEM Wanted nothing to do with this....For years they have said numerous time that there policy was basically "The menhaden are in fine shape" "The feds say so and we say so" they have never ever once tried to help in any way keeping the boats out...Suddenly a bill dies at the state house and a couple days later DEM does this...Very weird..could it be that 4 boats were in the prov river yesterday? yup 4 boats...so this is a way to keep people quiet because they have no intention on limiting the amount of boats that purse seine menhaden...so if you add it up and distrbute it among 4 boats now it works out to the same thing...This so called "emergency regulation" is nothing more than BS Trying to quell the complaints coming into the office over the amount of boats in the bay..

On the flipside they want a saltwater Licence sooner than later, this gives them some good standing with fisherman...and gets there support...There is millions of dollars in it for DEM and the goverment of Rhody as a whole with a Saltwater Licence..

The whole thing is Plain old BS.......I hope people see that and this for what it is..

My own feelings are this, I dont want Ark bait out, the guy has a right to make a living...its like telling a mechanic there is a bill in so he can no longer work...Regulation yes, an all out ban....nope...Now on the other hand I dont want to see 20 purse seine boats in here because they can get away with anything they want...Anyway...Its all BS

[Pt.JudeJoe]

Kick this around for a while...from another site talking about boats other than Ark Bait taking pogies from Narr. bay...

"However, the geniuses up at the state offices failed to even enact measures to prevent other companies from waltzing in and raping our bay. A boat from ME, 150 foot reduction boat, can hold 1 million pounds, and worked till dark yesterday to get 300,000# in their first day of fishing.
The company claims they are bait only.......I am not buying it. We have no idea where these fish are sold once they leave our state, as we have no authority once they do.......The net boat for these guys is as big as ARKs main boat!!

They actually took 500,000 pounds yesterday, and will work till 2PM today, when their license expires. They will have taken 1 milion pounds roughly by this afternoon.

Ark was also limited to 75,000 pounds per day this week."

[JohnR]

There has been a Maine boat on occasion though not sure if this is the same one. I also believe that reduction boats are banned though like what you posted, who knows once they leave the bay

500,000 #s - How do we substantiate that number?

[RIROCKHOUND]

I agree it seems rushed...
Joe that quote cant be accurate though... we banned reduction boats in 2002/3-ish

[OSSCA]

The Department is filing emergency regulations today at 12 noon concerning
the daily take of menhaden. The coast-wide bait situation appears to have
stimulated a greater interest in the migratory population currently within
Narragansett Bay by both Rhode Island and non-Rhode Island fishers. DEM remains
convinced that of the overall abundance and health of the fishery is not
immediately threatened. However, over the last few weeks, our monitoring
efforts indicate a rapid decrease in the menhaden populations migrating into the
Bay. Approximately 8M pounds of menhaden made the move into the Bay this year
and approximately 6M pounds remain at this time. Foraging species and bait
harvest have caused the 2M pound difference. We continue to monitor industry
interest concerning the greater harvest pressure on the Rhode Island fishery.
We have also confirmed activities by non-Rhode Island fishers who have moved
into the Bay. We are setting a daily harvest limit to 75,000 pounds for
commercial fishers and affixing a ‘hard cap’ of 4M pounds, which needs to remain
in the bay and available to foraging striped bass to provide a balanced ecosystem.
We believe the proposed actions are prudent and scientifically based,
providing essential Bay and fishery health protection.

Regards,

W. Michael Sullivan, Ph.D.

[Pete_G]

So it's all happening then. A friend of mine in the dead fish business predicted this a few weeks ago. He had heard a lot of guys were shifting to fishing for menhaden.

There's a 430 foot processing boat up in Fall River with several boats working the Bay, those are probably the boats that have joined Ark that #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& saw. Usually those boats (in addition to smaller local boats) feed the processor squid and macks, but the fishing was slow this year, so they shifted to the menhaden weeks ago.

He also thought there could be more boats in the near future as well, if they're not already here. He was right...