-- Carl LoBue, The Nature Conservancy
Atlantic Menhaden are very small fish that are part of the herring family. Menhaden can be found from Nova Scotia to northern Florida, as well as everywhere in between, including the Chesapeake Bay. The fish are filter feeders, collecting zooplankton and phytoplankton by filtering the water as they swim.
Menhaden have been called the "most important fish" in the sea, not because of what they eat, but because of what eats them. All types of larger fish and even mammals, from striped bass to dolphins, feast on schools of menhaden. (Dolphins can eat up to twenty pounds of menhanden in a day.) Seabirds such as osprey, bald eagles, and pelicans also rely upon the small oily fish as a food source. By all accounts, this very small fish has a very oversized role in the aquatic food chain.
It also has had a very large role in our history. Native Americans referred to the fish as munnawhateaug, which translates to "fertilizer." That was an apt name because indigenous people used the little, bony fish to fertilize their crops. It is believed that the Native Americans taught early colonists to plant the fish along with corn seeds, knowing that the nutrient-rich fish would help the crops grow.
Today, these little fish end up in much more than fertilizer: they are used to produce fish oil, fish meal, and even fish bait. The utility of the small fish means that the landings (that is, the catch) of menhaden exceeds any other fish caught in the United States. In the Chesapeake Bay, all of the menhaden are primarily caught by one company: Omega Protein, a subsidiary of a Canadian corporation, and its partner Ocean Harvesters. Both primarily operate in Virginia, which is one of the only states that still allows industrial scale fishing of menhaden.
Ocean Harvesters' vessels use purse seine netting, which are large walled nets, to catch the menhaden. While purse seines are often criticized for the amounts of bycatch, especially when using fish aggregating devices, the issue in this instance is that the use of purse seines results in an overcatch of mehaden. The menhaden catch is already subject to regulation, limiting the amount of fish that can be caught in any year. Omega and its partner have been accused of exceeding those limitations in previous years. Back in 2019, it admitted to exceeding the limits.
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| Ocean Harvesters' vessels using purse seine netting to catch mehaden (Source: Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Cosmovision Media |
Yet, limitations are put in place for a reason, and, there are concerns that overfishing menhaden will have ripple effects across the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere (the menhaden do migrate to North Carolina in the fall and winter). The biggest concern is the loss of food for other marine species, given the menhaden's critical role in the food chain. In fact, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission determined that the current limitation on mehanden fishing would threaten the striped bass population. Other studies have shown an impact on osprey, as evidenced by an increase in the starvation rate among osprey chicks.
Most recently, the commission voted to reduce the limits on mehaden fishing by 20%. The change was due to reduced estimates of menhaden populations in the waters. The Commission also voted to consider additional changes to the catch levels in the Chesapeake Bay, although no such change was immediately implemented. These changes are overwhelmingly supported by the public, with 92% of voters in Virginia supporting leaving more mehanden in the bay.
While the reduction in catch limits is welcomed, more needs to be done, especially to support other fisheries, like the striped bass fishery. Yet, the issue is often pitted as jobs (namely, those who work for Omega Protein and Ocean Harvesters catching and processing mehanden) versus the environment. Such an issue is really not one at all. If there are no menhaden, not only are there no striped bass, but there are also no jobs catching and processing mehaden. It is far easier to retrain a worker than it is to restore a species that goes locally extinct (although, as I have previously noted, that story of the bay scallop shows that the task is extremely difficult, but not impossible).
Our history has shown us to be very bad at balancing our needs with the environment, especially when it comes to the rivers, seas and oceans. Menhaden are a textbook example of that imbalance, as well as the ripple effects it can have throughout an ecoystem. We need more research and more action to ensure the future of not just those tiny fish, but also everything else that depends upon them.
PEACE.
For more about mehanden, check out the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's website.
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