Motion wanted to curb menhaden ‘web spills,’ harvest | Discussion board

At the least twice this summer season, industrial menhaden harvester Omega Protein littered the seashores alongside Virginia’s Japanese Shore with Atlantic menhaden, losing hundreds of this vital forage fish.

The Canadian-owned firm acknowledged that its contractor, Ocean Harvesters, primarily based in Reedville, VA, was liable for each mishaps.

The primary web failure occurred on July 5, spilling hundreds of useless menhaden alongside Silver Seashore, VA, situated on the Chesapeake Bay’s shoreline. A second spill, on July 25, occurred about 15 miles to the south and resulted in a number of thousand useless fish washing up on the seashores of Pickett Harbor, Kiptopeke State Park and Sundown Seashore.

Among the many fish killed within the second incident have been a whole bunch of enormous pink drum that have been caught as bycatch within the operation’s web. Official counts reported to the Virginia Marine Sources Fee (VMRC) by Omega Protein revealed that at the very least 12,000 kilos of pink drum — most of them within the 30– to 50-pound vary — have been casualties of this single calamity. Provided that fashionable sport fish’s biology, it’s extremely possible these large, mature reds have been within the Bay to feed on menhaden faculties, changing the protein-packed forage into the vitality wanted to spawn the following era.

These newest web spills aren’t the one occasions Omega Protein has proven itself to be a foul company neighbor within the Chesapeake Bay. In a single week in 2021, the corporate’s nets tore on two separate incidents, forcing them to dump what the VMRC estimated to be 400,000 useless menhaden into Hampton Roads waters.

In December 2019, Virginia was discovered to be out of compliance by the U.S. Division of Commerce after Omega Protein knowingly violated the 51,000-metric ton Chesapeake menhaden harvest cap, a restrict agreed to by coastwide fishery managers. Furthermore, Cooke Inc., the guardian firm of Omega Protein, has paid almost $13 million in penalties for violations associated to the setting, security, authorities contracting and funds, in keeping with Good Jobs First, a company that tracks company violations.

In response to the 2021 web spills, the VMRC’s menhaden advisory committee thought-about the event of an offshore buffer — or space closure — to reduce the potential of the massive menhaden purse seine nets snagging on the underside in nearshore shallow waters. Such a buffer would additionally present safety for leisure species that frequent vibrant nearshore habitats.

Sadly, the proposal didn’t transfer ahead as a result of it was opposed by the committee’s Omega Protein consultant, who claimed web spills are uncommon occasions not in want of a treatment. The 2 most up-to-date vital spills this summer season, although, have clearly proven these occurrences should not as uncommon as the corporate claims.

Typically known as a very powerful fish within the sea, menhaden are major meals for fashionable and priceless recreation fish comparable to striped bass (rockfish), pink drum, bluefish, cobia and sea trout.

Stripers are the biggest saltwater leisure fishery within the U.S. and generate a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in financial exercise within the Chesapeake area alone. They’re particularly depending on protein-rich menhaden, however this recreation fish is clearly overfished. Furthermore, reproductive success of stripers within the Bay — the fish’s most vital nursery floor — has dropped beneath the long-term common a number of occasions lately. Consequently, coastal fishery managers have applied a plan to rebuild the striped bass inhabitants.

It is usually vital to notice there has by no means been a bona fide inventory evaluation to estimate the variety of menhaden within the Bay. Moreover, as a result of the general menhaden harvest, notably in New England, has enormously elevated, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Fee is contemplating adjustments to its present administration plan.

A number of choices are on the desk, together with reallocating a share of the harvest to northern states, which might possible cut back Virginia’s quota and impression Omega Protein’s backside line. (In response to the ASMFC and different sources, Omega Protein harvests greater than 70% of all menhaden caught on the East Coast.)

Merely put, menhaden are far too priceless to the Chesapeake’s ecology and leisure

economic system to permit a single, foreign-owned industrialized harvester to grind up the lion’s share of menhaden into animal feed and fertilizer. This inequity is very troublesome given the truth that Bay and coastal anglers are doing their half to preserve stripers and enhance marine habitats.

Taken collectively, that is exactly why the Coastal Conservation Affiliation and American Sportfishing Affiliation are a part of a broad coalition of leisure fishing and boating teams which have requested Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to cease

using industrial purse seine gear in a serious portion of the Chesapeake Bay “till science demonstrates” that it doesn’t negatively alter the estuary’s ecosystem.

The Chesapeake’s marine sources belong to all of us. Moreover, the Bay is a crucial driver for sturdy sport-fishing, boating and tourism economies. We deserve greater than empty guarantees from a world fisheries juggernaut. All eyes are on Virginia’s fisheries managers and management in Richmond to curb this wasteful motion.

Mike Leonard is vice chairman of presidency affairs for the American Sportfishing Affiliation and a member of the VMRC Menhaden Advisory Committee. David Sikorski is government director of the Coastal Conservation Affiliation Maryland and chair of Maryland Sport Fisheries Advisory Fee.

The views expressed by opinion columnists should not essentially these of the Bay Journal.