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Menhaden Regs Go To Public Hearing

by Frank Richetti

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association February 2000 Newsletter)

 

New Jersey Marine Fisheries Proposed Regulation will go to Public Hearings on February 20, 2001.

All the NJ fisheries regulatory changes that were proposed in 2000 have been filed and will be posted in the NJ Registry on February 5. The menhaden proposal will be included.   Once posted in the State Registry a 30 day public comment period begins. A public hearing for the entire package is scheduled on February 20 at 7:00 p.m. in Stockton State College A wing lecture hall. NJ Fish & Wildlife will provide summaries of the changes; these will be available for review before the public hearing.

Comments from the public hearing will be considered at the first NJ Marine Fisheries Council meeting following the close of comment period ( March 8 meeting). The final regulations will be approved at this meeting. The new regulations will take effect in March or April, certainly in time to prevent large bunker harvest in the 2001 season.

It is extremely important that we have a good showing at the public hearing on February 20, to support the changes to the menhaden regulations. I know that the reduction industry will lobby hard to modify or eliminate this proposal. We have worked very hard for many years to take measures to protect bunker stocks from being over harvested within our state waters. This regulation is the final step in achieving that protection. We can't afford to let up now, when we are so close to our goal.

Written comments can be sent to the following address, only letters receive during the open comment period between February 5 and March 7, 2001 will be considered. 

Department of Environmental Protection
Office of Legal Affairs
PO Box 403
Trenton, NJ 08625

Docket # 36-00-12/147

"This is a courtesy copy of this rule proposal.  The official version will be published in the February 5, 2001, New Jersey Register.  Should there be any discrepancies between this text and the official version of the proposal, the official version will govern."

N.J.A.C. 7:25-22        Fishery management in New Jersey

            The proposed amendments to N.J.A.C. 7:25-22.1 and 7:25-22.2 prohibits the taking of Atlantic menhaden from the marine waters of the State by purse seine or any other method for fish meal reduction.  N.J.A.C. 7:25-22.3, “Taking of Atlantic menhaden for bait” and 7:25-22.4, “Vessel boarding”, are recodified as a result of deleting the current 7:25-22.2, “Purse seine fishing of Atlantic menhaden”, which regulates the taking of Atlantic menhaden by purse seine for fish meal reduction.

            The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council (Council) advises the Commissioner of the Department on various issues and management programs related to fishery resources.  The Council has eleven members, appointed by the Governor, representing recreational and commercial fishermen, fish processors, the general public and the Atlantic Coast and Delaware Bay sections of the Shellfisheries Council.

            On July 13, 2000, the Council, by majority vote, passed a motion to prohibit taking of Atlantic menhaden in State waters by any means for purposes of fish meal reduction.  This motion was first introduced at the March 2, 2000 Council meeting at which time it was tabled to allow Council members the opportunity to review additional information, and later introduced at the May 4, 2000 Council meeting at which time it was tabled again prior to the July 13, 2000 Council meeting.  The Council has long served as the forum in which sportfishermen and the Atlantic menhaden industry have discussed and debated their viewpoints on the management of Atlantic menhaden in State marine waters. Sportfishing interests have favored the prohibition of purse seining for Atlantic menhaden for reduction purposes in State waters for many reasons, including:  a) concern for the biological health of the Atlantic coastal population of Atlantic menhaden; b) concern that harvesting of Atlantic menhaden on such a large scale was causing localized depletion of Atlantic menhaden, an important forage fish in the diets of many predatory fishes, including striped bass, bluefish and weakfish; c) concern for the spatial conflicts that have long existed between the reduction fishery’s purse seine fleet and other large size vessels utilizing large nets for commercial fishing operations and sportfishing boats; and d) the incidental catch of other species of marine organisms in the purse seine net.  Industry representatives of the Atlantic menhaden purse seine fishery for reduction purposes have long maintained that:  a) the coastal population of Atlantic menhaden is healthy and can sustain current levels of fishing mortality; b) the coastwide or localized harvests of Atlantic menhaden are not substantial enough to negatively impact the food requirements of predatory fishes; c) there are no conflicts between the commercial purse seine fishery for fish meal reduction and the sportfishermen; and d) the by-catch of other species of marine organisms in the Atlantic menhaden purse seine fishery is insignificant.

            Many legislative bills have been introduced over the years on Atlantic menhaden management in New Jersey marine waters.  Nearly all of this proposed legislation has included a prohibition on the taking of Atlantic menhaden from the marine waters of the State by purse seine for fish meal reduction.   Late in 1999, the State’s Legislature, after reviewing a bill that would prohibit purse seining for fish meal reduction in State waters, stated that this issue should be resolved by the State’s Marine Fisheries Council.  Subsequently, the motion to prohibit the taking of Atlantic menhaden in State waters by any means for purposes of fish meal reduction was introduced at the March 2, 2000 Council meeting and, after much discussion between Council members and the user groups, later voted upon at the July 13, 2000 Council meeting.

            The proposed amendment prohibiting the taking of Atlantic menhaden by any means for fish meal reduction eliminates the potential for the harvesting of Atlantic menhaden on such a large scale as could occur if the market for fish meal and other reduction products experienced major expansion, or if the purse seine fleet for reduction purposes were to move a greater proportion of their harvesting effort from Virginia waters to more northerly areas, including New Jersey.