The most important fish in the sea
- Thread starter Capt13
- Start date
Rick67
Well-Known Angler
My observation this past year.
Besides a smack here or there. Little Neck Bay had nothing most the summer.
Oyster Bay had some in the back, just some. Nothing like previous years.
Huntington Harbor, sporadic few pods.
Nissy, Zero
Stonybrook Zero
Port Jeff, next to none. Port you'd swear you could walk on them the previous year.
Mt Sinai I didn't venture into this year and Smithtown Bay was typical but a month later then normal.
Niantic, was there for tournament. Seen Zero
Jamaica Bay last spring I had to look for them for first time I can remember.
Raritan Bay in spring I never seen any.
IMO big drop in menhaden from what I'm used to.
Besides a smack here or there. Little Neck Bay had nothing most the summer.
Oyster Bay had some in the back, just some. Nothing like previous years.
Huntington Harbor, sporadic few pods.
Nissy, Zero
Stonybrook Zero
Port Jeff, next to none. Port you'd swear you could walk on them the previous year.
Mt Sinai I didn't venture into this year and Smithtown Bay was typical but a month later then normal.
Niantic, was there for tournament. Seen Zero
Jamaica Bay last spring I had to look for them for first time I can remember.
Raritan Bay in spring I never seen any.
IMO big drop in menhaden from what I'm used to.
Oyster Bay was LOADED ............. WLSI LOADED ........
crabby
Well-Known Angler
Even if you are seeing them in LIS, it's just a small view of the bigger picture.
Capt13
Well-Known Angler
I agree ....... there were not as many as the year before in P.J. Harbor. It was hard making bait. I was on a ferry trip and Bridgeport seem loaded ..... both inside and outside. Countless large schools .....
Last edited:
wader
Well-Known Angler
ASMFC says Menhaden ARE NOT OVERFISHED as of 2017
MakoMike
Angler
From Fissues.org on this weeks ASMFC meeting:
The Menhaden Board met Thursday morning to review the “Synthesis of Scientific Findings of Atlantic Menhaden’s Role in the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem.” Such a review didn’t really tell us much. While it’s intuitive to anyone who spends more than a few days on the water that, when you remove hundreds and thousands of pounds of an important forage resource from a watershed, it can and will have cascading ecosystem effects, the staff concluded that scientists can’t determine whether or not localized depletion is occurring or can occur in the Bay because it’s so difficult to quantify.
More importantly, the Menhaden Board met to consider a motion from the August 2018 meeting – which put off a decision to find the Commonwealth of Virginia out of compliance with a cap on the amount of menhaden that the reduction industry can take out of the Chesapeake Bay.
It’s important to note that, while the cap hasn’t gotten close to being exceeded (likely because of availability) the Virginia legislature has still refused to codify the cap. Technically, that means they aren’t in compliance with ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Management plan.
After some discussion, the board moved to postpone indefinitely, a non-compliance finding, unless or until Virginia exceeds the cap. If the cap is exceeded, the Board can reconsider the issue of compliance. The motion also committed the Board to consider action to modify the Bay Cap after it completes its development and implementation of “ecological reference points” – which will presumably show the trade-offs between leaving fish in the water and extracting them. Such reference points will hopefully be available for management use by 2020.
This is not terrible, but it’s not great either. In the end, the board had little choice but to avoid a non-compliance finding as NOAA Fisheries has been clear, on the record that there wasn’t sufficient science to support the concept of “localized depletion” in Chesapeake Bay, and thus that the Secretary of Commerce was unlikely to endorse any non-compliance finding made by ASMFC. What is unclear at this point is whether or not we will have the science moving forward. All indications are that we won’t.
Stay tuned on this, as it will likely heat up again soon.
Conclusions:
So, here’s what’s up.
On menhaden, well, we wait. Ecosystem reference points, available next year, will provide managers (and us) with clear information on the trade-offs between extraction and menhaden’s value to predators. Such information will not require managers to adopt measures that will benefit either the marine ecosystem or the fishing community, but it will give us the ammunition to show the value of menhaden in the water, and advocate for their conservation. And that is a BIG deal. Stay tuned as this unfolds.
The Menhaden Board met Thursday morning to review the “Synthesis of Scientific Findings of Atlantic Menhaden’s Role in the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem.” Such a review didn’t really tell us much. While it’s intuitive to anyone who spends more than a few days on the water that, when you remove hundreds and thousands of pounds of an important forage resource from a watershed, it can and will have cascading ecosystem effects, the staff concluded that scientists can’t determine whether or not localized depletion is occurring or can occur in the Bay because it’s so difficult to quantify.
More importantly, the Menhaden Board met to consider a motion from the August 2018 meeting – which put off a decision to find the Commonwealth of Virginia out of compliance with a cap on the amount of menhaden that the reduction industry can take out of the Chesapeake Bay.
It’s important to note that, while the cap hasn’t gotten close to being exceeded (likely because of availability) the Virginia legislature has still refused to codify the cap. Technically, that means they aren’t in compliance with ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Management plan.
After some discussion, the board moved to postpone indefinitely, a non-compliance finding, unless or until Virginia exceeds the cap. If the cap is exceeded, the Board can reconsider the issue of compliance. The motion also committed the Board to consider action to modify the Bay Cap after it completes its development and implementation of “ecological reference points” – which will presumably show the trade-offs between leaving fish in the water and extracting them. Such reference points will hopefully be available for management use by 2020.
This is not terrible, but it’s not great either. In the end, the board had little choice but to avoid a non-compliance finding as NOAA Fisheries has been clear, on the record that there wasn’t sufficient science to support the concept of “localized depletion” in Chesapeake Bay, and thus that the Secretary of Commerce was unlikely to endorse any non-compliance finding made by ASMFC. What is unclear at this point is whether or not we will have the science moving forward. All indications are that we won’t.
Stay tuned on this, as it will likely heat up again soon.
Conclusions:
So, here’s what’s up.
On menhaden, well, we wait. Ecosystem reference points, available next year, will provide managers (and us) with clear information on the trade-offs between extraction and menhaden’s value to predators. Such information will not require managers to adopt measures that will benefit either the marine ecosystem or the fishing community, but it will give us the ammunition to show the value of menhaden in the water, and advocate for their conservation. And that is a BIG deal. Stay tuned as this unfolds.
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