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by Ed Cherry
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association January 2005 Newsletter)
As of December 3, 2004, the most current information available indicates for the same time period, the 2004 Atlantic Menhaden reduction catch from Reedsville and Beaufort combined is 156,424 total metric tons (514,723,000 standard fish) versus 151,440 total metric tons (498,322,000 standard fish) for 2003. This represents a net increase of 3.2 % for year-to-year comparison. It also represents a 4.2 % decrease over the 5-year average.
The age breakdown consists of 1% age 0 fish, 10% age1 fish, 79% age 2 fish and 10 % fish 3 years and older. 90% of the catch is age 2 or less. Most current estimates are that 70% of the catch in 2004 has come from the VA portion of Chesapeake Bay (inside the bay Bridge Tunnel). This number at this present time is only a rough estimate, more precise numbers will be available early in 2005.
At the recent ASMFC annual meeting in New Hampshire, the management board some how went along with the premise that the menhaden stock is healthy and not being over-fished, even though the population analysis of the fishery is based on the data provided by the reduction fishery (i.e. fishery dependent data). There was absolutely no attempt by the management board to cap the catch in the Chesapeake at current levels.
The Atlantic reduction industry's catch (Reedsville and Beaufort combined) represents only about 25% of the total reduction catch. The remaining 75% of the reduction catch comes from the separate Gulf of Mexico fishery. This should indicate the magnitude of the reduction fishery and the difficulty the recreational and environmental sector will have in capping the resource.
An issue to consider for the very near future is the need to cap the explosion of the menhaden bait fishery in local NJ waters. Since 1991 the bait fishery has gone from approximately 2 million pounds to over 35 million pounds. Coast wide this fishery has expanded from approximately 5% of the total commercial catch to around 27%. The bait landings do, however, contain a significantly greater proportion of older, larger fish than in the reduction fishery landings. The majority (~85%) of bait landings are currently coming from inshore NJ and VA waters. The actual current NJ numbers will not be available until sometime in early 2005.
