Recommendations For Action

The coastal ecosystem, and in this case the Chesapeake Bay, cannot support the demands of increased populations of predatory fish and seabirds without increasing the supply of prey. Simply put, striped bass and a number of other predators are competing with the industrial-scale menhaden fishery for food, and they are losing the fight.

	Industrial Menhaden Fishing

Accordingly, Menhaden Matter — a unique cooperative effort of concerned conservation and recreation organizations, including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Coastal Conservation Association, Environmental Defense and National Coalition for Marine Conservation — recommends that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission immediately take the following steps.

Adopt Proactive Measures on an Interim Basis

The ASMFC has begun a process to determine whether interim management measures should be taken to prevent what could be the ecologically harmful depletion of menhaden, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay. Implementing such proactive management measures as soon as possible is critical. Interim measures to consider include:

• Set limits on the amount of menhaden that can be harvested in the Chesapeake Bay.



• Delay the start of the fishing season to June 1st.



• Implement time and area closures within the Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay.



• Establish regional quotas through an area-based approach to management



• Employ other management tools to minimize the risk of localized depletion.

Advance Long-term Ecosystem-based Management

	Industrial Menhaden Fishing

In addition, the ASMFC also is considering new, longer-term management changes that include shifting the focus of its fisheries management process to an ecosystem-based approach. Moving forward with this approach is important, but it does not — and should not — supplant the need to take interim management action now.

Any long-term ecosystem-based planning should:

• Identify and apply management measures to achieve the existing plan objective to protect and maintain menhaden's ecological role along the coast.



• Develop new biological reference points to address and protect menhaden's role as forage and filter feeder.

In Conclusion — Menhaden Matter!

They matter to the health of estuaries and oceans and all marine life that these ecosystems support. They matter to the viability of resurging fish stocks such as striped bass and bluefish, whose survival depends on menhaden as a food source. They matter to other predators, seabirds such as loons and osprey, and marine mammals. They matter to the commercial and recreational fishing industries and to the watermen and anglers whose livelihoods and recreation depend on healthy fish stocks. And they matter to businesses and local economies that healthy fisheries support.

That is why it is critical that conservative action be taken now, while the foundation for future ecosystem-based management is laid. Otherwise, "the most important fish in the sea" will not be protected.