LEGISLATION TO SAVE MENHADEN INTRODUCED

LEGISLATION TO SAVE MENHADEN INTRODUCED - Gary Caputi

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that to rebuild stocks of the many game fish currently under state and federal management plans; you better have a strong forage base to support them. This concept continues to elude fishery managers- especially those at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. While they play lip service to the concept of “ecosystem management” they have failed to grasp the concept that managing predator and prey species synergistically is the most basic way to achieve an ecosystem based approach to improving fish stocks. Fact is, if fishery managers do not extend serious protection to forage fish, all the efforts put into game fish stock rebuilding programs will hit a brick wall.

At a time when our coastal waters need all the help they can get in fighting off runaway algae blooms, a company called Omega Protein remains free to harvest all the menhaden they can capture. Harvest they do, taking more menhaden from the East Coast and Northern Gulf by weight than all the other commercially harvested finfish caught in the U.S. combined!

Recreational Fishing Alliance has been a leader in seeking protection for menhaden and has been instrumental in passing legislation in New York and New Jersey that prohibits the harvest of menhaden in their waters by Omega or any other company involved in the menhaden reduction industry. The same goal was accomplished through regulation in Rhode Island. However, introducing federal legislation has been an elusive goal even after years of calling on Congress to hold hearings on forage fish. It took a new book by H. Bruce Franklin, The Most Important Fish in the Sea, to reawaken Congressional interest. Franklin, who serves as a forage fish advisor to the RFA, has written a remarkable book that details the importance of these misunderstood fish and how they have been the target of boom-and-bust industrialized fishing for centuries. Today, Omega is pretty much the sole entity left in the business but their harvesting capacity is so great they will literally drive the last nail in the coffin unless they are stopped soon. At a time when the environment needs these fish populations more than ever, Omega cannot be allowed to deplete this important species to use their dried, ground bodies as an additive in animal feed and the oils as additives in various manufacturing processes.

Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (Maryland) has introduced H.R. 3841, the first legislation seeking to do what the ASMFC has failed to do - stop the reduction industry before it’s too late. This bill’s introduction in the House Resources Committee is the first step in a long and difficult process of making it a law. With only one original co-sponsor, Congressman Jim Saxton, it will have to be shepherded through a sharply divided Congress. RFA is embarking on a campaign to educate members of Congress about the importance of protecting menhaden and the implications of failing to do so at this time. RFA’s lobbyists and scientists are joined by their counterparts from Greenpeace to give this important legislation the recognition necessary to make it a law.

To learn more about the role menhaden play in the marine ecosystem we strongly suggest you purchase a copy of Franklin’s highly acclaimed book, available at local book stores everywhere. For more information, visit www.joinrfa.com today and become an active member.