JCAA

      

 

The Menhaden Bill

by Frank Richetti

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association February 2002 Newsletter)

Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco had only a day and a half left in office when on Sunday evening, January 6, 2002 at about 5:00 pm he signed the Menhaden Protection Bill into law.

By signing this bill into law the departing Governor will protect tens of millions of menhaden from the nets of industrial reduction fishing boats. If he had not signed this bill before leaving office it would have died and we would have to go back to our legislators start all over again.

The fight to protect these fish that are a critical link in the ecological web has been long and hard and helped by many organized groups and thousands of concerned anglers. I want to recognize the efforts of New Jersey State Federation of Sprotsmen Clubs, the Recreational Fishing Alliance, the Menhaden Project, the Salty Dogs of War, the NJ Beach Buggy Association, the NJ Environmental Federation, NJ-PIRG and the NJ Sierra Club. It proves what we can accomplish when we all work together on a common cause. Also hundreds of individual fishermen and dozens of fishing clubs wrote letters, called legislators, attended hearings and generally supported the cause. Thank you one and all. This is a great victory for the health of the menhaden stock and also for the recovery of many predatory fish that depend on them as a prime prey.

Menhaden, also known as bunker, are migratory fish who reside in New Jersey waters only seasonally. Many migrate through New Jersey waters each year. They are available in our state waters generally from late April through October. They are oily and are not suitable table fare. These filter feeders not only help to clean our waters but serve as a prime forage base for predatory sport fish such as striped bass, weakfish and bluefish.

Until this bill was signed into law, two different industries fished for menhaden in New Jersey waters. First, the local bait boats who catch about 30 million pounds of bunker each year to provide bait for both commercial and recreational fishermen. The size of the boats and gear serve to limit the impact they have on the local menhaden population. There are about 24 active bait boats statewide, with most of the activity in the Sandy Hook region and Cape May region. These purse seine boats must stay 0.6 nautical miles from the shore. There are occasional conflicts to be sure, but by and large the catch by bait boats is reasonable and sustainable.

The second industry that seeks menhaden is the reduction industry. The Menhaden Protection Bill prevents catching bunker in NJ waters for the purpose of reduction. The reduction process renders the menhaden into fish meal, used in animal feed, and fish oils used in some food and vitamin products. This is large-scale operation, based in Virginia, harvested over 500 million pounds of menhaden in 1998. Each ship looks to harvest between 250 and 500 thousand pounds of bunker each day that they are on the water. This fleet follows the bunker migration up the coast each year, and although there is wide variation from year to year, they are capable of harvesting over 100 million pounds of bunker from our state waters. In fact, just a few of these factory ships can harvest in a two-week period as many fish as our entire bait fleet can harvest all season. That is why we works so hard for so long to prevent these large vessels from sweeping into our state waters, harvesting huge quantities of fish and depriving the game fish of their natural prey.

The fight to protect these important fish started back in the early 80s when at the start of the fall migration the big reduction boats from North Carolina and Virginia came up and literally swept our beaches clean of bait. Without bait in our local waters the bluefish and bass soon departed. The fall run was over before it started. Thousands of surf fishermen and hundreds of boat fishermen were deprived of catching fish that fall. The bait and tackle industry and the party boat industry suffered economic loss. All this so that a company based many states away could make fish meal and oil. The value of fish meal and oil is far less than the value of recreational fishing activity. Consider the purchase of bait, tackle, gas, lunches etc… recreational fishing generates about $40 for a pound of fish compared to the 5 cents a pound for bunker used in fish meal. In 1980 there were no restrictions on where a purse seine boat could fish and no regulations governing the gear or landing of menhaden.

Finally, in 1988 an agreement was reached to create a buffer zone around the state. The smaller bait boats would have to stay 0.6 nautical miles off the beach (except in Raritan bay 0.3 nautical miles) and the larger reduction boats would have to stay outside 1.2 nautical miles. The state has control of water up to 3.0 nautical miles from the beach. This was not a comprehensive management plan but it at leased created a buffer zone and kept all purse seine boats off the beach.

Through the years the buffer zone concept proved to be inadequate to control the harvest of bunker. The bait industry grew from two permitted vessels in 1988 harvesting about 1.2 million pounds to over 30 permitted vessels in 1995 harvesting 30.0 million pounds of bunker each year.

On top of this growth in the bait industry, the reduction boats could come into our state waters at will and have an unlimited harvest. In 1995 the reduction boats took 118.7 million pounds of bunker from our waters. Their effort in NJ waters varies greatly from year to year. Some years there is almost no effort followed by a year of huge catches. A good example, in 1999 the reduction industry spent 20 vessel days in NJ waters harvesting a total of 7.8 million pounds. By contrast, in 2000 they spent 91 vessel days in NJ harvesting 75.8 million pounds of menhaden.

Because of the lack of a coast wide plan to regulate the harvest of menhaden, each state must take matters into its own hands. Many of our neighboring states have placed restrictions on the harvest of bunker in their waters thereby making NJ one of the few options available to the reduction boats. This new law is an effort to take control of what happens within our state waters. It is an effort to prevent the destruction of the stocks of the most important prey fish in our coastal waters. It is an effort to provide the forage base for the recovery of striped bass, weakfish and bluefish. It is an effort by the recreational fishermen and environmentalists in this state to use the only tools we have, as cumbersome as these tools might be, to maintain a balance in our ecosystem so that future generations can enjoy the pleasures and wonders of catching healthy wild fish