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From the ASMFC website:
Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, supports one of the most important and productive fisheries on the Atlantic coast. It is a major source of omega-3 fatty acids, which has been shown to cut risks of heart disease and possibly other diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Menhaden is also used by fishermen as bait to catch popular commercial and sport fish. The species also plays in important role in marine ecosystems as both a forage fish to larger predators and a filter feeder. The 2010 stock assessment update indicates that Atlantic menhaden are not overfished and overfishing is occurring.
In 2004, the Commission approved Addendum I to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. This plan put in place biological reference points currently used to manage the fishery in a manner that is biologically, economically, socially, and ecologically sound.
Addendum III, approved in October 2006, establishes a five-year annual cap on reduction fishery harvests in Chesapeake Bay of 109,020 metric tons, a number derived from the average of harvests from 2001 – 2005. The cap will be implemented in 2006 and extend through 2010. Harvest for reduction purposes will be prohibited in the Chesapeake Bay when 100% of the cap is landed. Over-harvest in any given year would be deducted from the next year’s quota. The Addendum also includes a provision allowing under-harvest in one year to be credited only to the following year’s harvest, not to exceed 122,740 metric tons. Addendum IV, approved in November 2009, extends the Chesapeake Bay reduction harvest cap from 2011 through 2013.
As an important prey species, menhaden is also one of four fish (bluefish, weakfish and striped bass) currently being used to investigate the potential impacts of predator-prey interactions on marine fishery resources. Through the use of multispecies assessment models, the Commission has begun to quantify and explain the important relationship between forage fish and predators, with the ultimate goal of improving our understanding and management of both.
So where are these "dangerously Low" levels? Or does the author just have an axe to grind with Omega?
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