A doable finish is in sight for industrial menhaden fishing in Virginia. A invoice was launched for the subsequent session of the Virginia General Assembly for a two-year moratorium to be positioned on Atlantic menhaden. The moratorium can be put in place in Virginia’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The invoice is sponsored by State Delegate Tim Anderson (R)-Virginia Beach.
The Atlantic Menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) is a silvery-scaled baitfish that serves as a serious forage species for a lot of totally different bigger and sportfish species. Being such an essential prey species for a lot of in style species of sportfish within the Chesapeake Bay there has all the time been loads of rivalry concerning the industrial harvest of Atlantic menhaden. Starting with simply the strategy of fishing for the menhaden, often known as bunker, a fleet of purse seining boats has gotten main flak from sportfishing and conservation teams. Their argument is that the Omega Protein fleet has pushed down the variety of menhaden within the Chesapeake Bay, and in flip, the sportfish numbers who prey on the bunker have adopted.
Omega Protein although has insisted previously that the science is on their facet, saying the menhaden numbers are nonetheless wholesome. They as an alternative blame the game fishers and industrial anglers for the drop in sportfish numbers. Omega Protein’s annual harvest is capped at 51,000 metric tons of menhaden out of the Chesapeake Bay. This is a large portion of their 137,000 metric ton common annual harvest. So the lack of the flexibility to fish contained in the Chesapeake Bay can be substantial for the enterprise. This shouldn’t be the primary time we’ve heard the title Omega Protein this 12 months with the blunder in Louisiana earlier in September.
Anderson’s invoice would apart from closing the Chesapeake Bay to industrial bunker fishing would additionally set up an advisory committee to do analysis on discount fishing in the course of the two-year moratorium. The advisory committee would then present the information on its findings to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) after its analysis is full.
