“As we all know, menhaden play a critical role in coastal
Atlantic ecosystems, both as filter feeders and as forage for
numerous other species. The ASMFC’s failure to account for or
protect these ecological functions prompted over 20,000 people to
urge the commission to take action last year. The majority of
these comments were in favor of a coastwide moratorium on the
reduction fishery, which Greenpeace continues to support.
“As a result of overfishing and poor management, menhaden have
experienced serial depletions from the Gulf of Maine southward down
the Atlantic Coast. Yet, the ASFMC failed to respond to these
depletions for years, even after a National Marine Fisheries
Service Peer Review Panel recommended that the Commission set a
firm limit on the coastwide catch. Faced with growing concerns
about localized depletion in the menhaden’s most important spawning
grounds, ASMFC finally acted last August to cap the menhaden
reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay. While this cap falls
short of what is needed to protect coastal ecosystems and fishing
communities, the Commission’s recognition that limits on the
fishery are needed is an important, if overdue, step in the right
direction.
“Greenpeace urges the Commission to not let this timid step be
halted by a single state acting at the behest of a single
company. After failing to lead his state in a timely ratification
of the ASMFC’s Addendum II, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has
belatedly introduced a proposal that not only exceeds the cap
agreed upon by the multistate commission, but incorporates a
measure that the Commission has already considered and expressly
rejected: underages. Contrary to the Commission’s decision, the
Kaine proposal would allow industry to rollover any uncaught
portion of its annual quota to the following year. Under this
provision, Omega Protein could vacuum up to 122,740 tons of fish
out of the Bay in any one season, further magnifying the fishery’s
already unacceptable impacts on the Bay ecosystem.
“As Governor Kaine himself said in October, “If the menhaden are
harvested too vigorously, then it reduces a source of food that can
be helpful to a healthy rockfish population, for example. It’s a
question of balance.” Indeed, balance is essential. But the Kaine
proposal ignores this balance because the Governor hopes to
“mitigate the potential for economic hardship on the menhaden
industry.” We, along with nearly 20,000 people who spoke out last
summer, speak for the hardship on the menhaden and the wildlife of
the Bay that depend on them.
“More effort must be made to integrate the ASMFC’s ecological
objectives included in Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery
Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden into any plan for menhaden
management. These ecological objectives include protecting and
maintaining the important ecological role Atlantic menhaden play
along the coast. As the Chesapeake Bay Ecological Foundation will
present today, menhaden are no longer able to fulfill this
ecological role, as a result of overfishing.
“The irony of Greenpeace being the voice that urges the ASMFC to
stick to its proverbial guns is not lost on me. However, I urge
the Commission to stand by its decision last August, and in so
doing, find Virginia in non-compliance for failing to meet the
generous compliance deadline set last October.
“In the unfortunate event that the Commission bows to the will
of the bullies in the room and initiates a new Addendum process to
consider Governor Kaine’s proposal, then we respectfully submit
that this process should also include other proposals not
previously included in the Addendum II list of options, such as a
coastwide moratorium on the industrial purse seine fishery.
“Thank you for this opportunity to comment.”
VVPR info: [email protected]
Exp. contact date: 2006-09-16 00:00:00
