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Home Volume 10 Number 2 & 3 Menhaden: A Test Case for New Fisheries Management

Oct. 2011 · Volume 10 Number 2 & 3

Menhaden: A Test Case for New Fisheries Management

Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management and the Menhaden Wars

Michael W. Fincham

Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management & the Menhaden Wars
Why are so many boats competing for menhaden - a small, oily fish that most people have never heard of? You won't, after all, see menhaden in supermarkets or seafood stores or on restaurant menus. If the fish are caught by snapper rigs or pound netters, they usually end up as bait for crabbers and chum for charter boat crews trying to catch striped bass. If they are caught by Omega's fleet, on the other hand, menhaden will be compressed or 'reduced' into fertilizer, fish meal, or fish oil. If you eat farm-raised fish or chicken, you may be sneaking menhaden into your diet. If you pop a daily fish oil pill with omega-3 fatty acids, you may be using menhaden to keep your heart healthy. If you give your house a new coat of paint, menhaden oils could be part of the paint mix. Products for agriculture, aquaculture, industry, and health foods - and bait for fishermen. It's no wonder the little menhaden is a big money fish. Chesapeake Quarterly, Maryland Sea Grant's quarterly magazine, reports on research, extension, education and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities of interest to the marine community. It is produced and funded by this program, which receives support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Editor, Michael W. Fincham; Production Editor and Art Director, Sandy Rodgers. more . . .

The Case for Fishing Menhaden

Michael W. Fincham

Why are so many boats competing for menhaden - a small, oily fish that most people have never heard of? You won't, after all, see menhaden in supermarkets or seafood stores or on restaurant menus. If the fish are caught by snapper rigs or pound netters, they usually end up as bait for crabbers and chum for charter boat crews trying to catch striped bass. If they are caught by Omega's fleet, on the other hand, menhaden will be compressed or 'reduced' into fertilizer, fish meal, or fish oil. If you eat farm-raised fish or chicken, you may be sneaking menhaden into your diet. If you pop a daily fish oil pill with omega-3 fatty acids, you may be using menhaden to keep your heart healthy. If you give your house a new coat of paint, menhaden oils could be part of the paint mix. Products for agriculture, aquaculture, industry, and health foods - and bait for fishermen. It's no wonder the little menhaden is a big money fish. Chesapeake Quarterly, Maryland Sea Grant's quarterly magazine, reports on research, extension, education and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities of interest to the marine community. It is produced and funded by this program, which receives support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Editor, Michael W. Fincham; Production Editor and Art Director, Sandy Rodgers. more . . .

The Case against Fishing Menhaden

Michael W. Fincham

Who gets first call then on the menhaden bounty of the Chesapeake Bay? Omega Protein? The snapper rigs? The striped bass that fishermen like to catch? The ospreys and eagles that sometimes fight over the fish? Ed Liccone would leave most of the menhaden as food for striped bass and other predators. Chesapeake Quarterly, Maryland Sea Grant's quarterly magazine, reports on research, extension, education and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities of interest to the marine community. It is produced and funded by this program, which receives support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Editor, Michael W. Fincham; Production Editor and Art Director, Sandy Rodgers. more . . .

New Publications from Maryland Sea Grant

Michael W. Fincham

New Publications from Maryland Sea Grant. Chesapeake Quarterly, Maryland Sea Grant's quarterly magazine, reports on research, extension, education and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities of interest to the marine community. It is produced and funded by this program, which receives support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Editor, Michael W. Fincham; Production Editor and Art Director, Sandy Rodgers. more . . .

Burreson Receives Mathias Medal

Maryland Sea Grant

Burreson receives Mathias Medal. Chesapeake Quarterly, Maryland Sea Grant's quarterly magazine, reports on research, extension, education and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities of interest to the marine community. It is produced and funded by this program, which receives support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Editor, Michael W. Fincham; Production Editor and Art Director, Sandy Rodgers. more . . .

Brainard Heads Sea Grant Communications

Maryland Sea Grant has a new head for its communications activities, Jeffrey Brainard, who succeeds long-time leader Jack Greer, who retired in 2010. Chesapeake Quarterly, Maryland Sea Grant's quarterly magazine, reports on research, extension, education and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities of interest to the marine community. It is produced and funded by this program, which receives support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Editor, Michael W. Fincham; Production Editor and Art Director, Sandy Rodgers. more . . .

Where Have All the Menhaden Gone?

Michael W. Fincham

Menhaden stocks in the Chesapeake are now at their lowest point in the past 54 years. It's a mystery that matters to recreational fishermen who claim that low levels of menhaden are starving a lot of stripers. It's a mystery that matters to a lot of commercial fishermen also. In Maryland and Virginia, pound netters catch menhaden to sell as fish bait, as do five small snapper rig boats that fish the southern Bay, working out of Reedville, Virginia. The town is also a base for Omega Protein, a Houston-run corporation that operates the last fish reduction plant on the East Coast. Menhaden may be a small, oily fish that nobody eats, but it supplies the largest commercial seafood harvest in the Chesapeake Bay. Chesapeake Quarterly, Maryland Sea Grant's quarterly magazine, reports on research, extension, education and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities of interest to the marine community. It is produced and funded by this program, which receives support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Editor, Michael W. Fincham; Production Editor and Art Director, Sandy Rodgers. more . . .