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FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
by Tom Fote
FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & LEGISLATIVE REPORT
by Tom Fote
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association Late Summer 2000 Newsletter)
It has taken many years of work, but
the NJ Marine Fisheries Council at their July 13 meeting voted in favor of Councilman
Dickerson's proposal to "not allow the fishing of menhaden, by any method, for
purpose of reduction, in state waters". As expected the vote was split, 6 in favor
and 4 against.
This is the beginning of the process
of turning a proposal into a regulation. This proposal will be included in a series of
regulations that the Division of Fish and Wildlife are drawing up. It will probably by
published in September with public comment in October and ready for implementation for
January 2001. It will be important for you to show up at the public hearings to reinforce
the NJ Marine Council's decision. We have worked too hard and come too far to let down
now.
It has been a long hard fight lead by
the Menhaden Project, JCAA and RFA, many folks have taken abuse over this issue, but some
very significant accomplishments have been achieved.
The first, which began in January of
2000, was the statewide implementation of a uniform 0.6mile buffer zone for all menhaden
bait boats. This buffer zone will help reduce the pressure on bunker in many parts of
Raritan/Sandyhook Bay by minimizing the conflict between sport and commercial fishermen. It will allow for more consistent law
enforcement.
The second achievement, when this
proposal becomes regulation, will be the elimination of reduction boats from NJ State
waters. This will save tens of millions of pounds of forage fish each year. These are both important steps in ensuring the
forage base will be stable and available for the recovering stocks of game fish like
striped bass, weak fish and blue fish.
Congratulations to everyone, who
worked so hard on these issues and helped to make these protections a reality, but
remember that the job is not done. Look for the public hearing dates and more information
in upcoming issues of the JCAA Newspaper and on our web page.
Here is a note I sent back to a
person that contacted Tom Fote by email.
I'm Frank Richetti. I work with Tom
Fote at JCAA and recently have worked extensively with Len Fantasia of the Menhaden
Project to help protect menhaden (bunker) in NJ waters.
As you probably know menhaden are a
very oily fish and so are not desirable table fare for humans but predatory fish love
them. They are filter feeders which can live
up to 9 years and can grow to about 4 pounds but average between 2 and 3 pounds. They live in inshore waters and congregate in
large schools. Menhaden are an easy
target for factory commercial fishing operations. Historically
there were pound net fisheries in Raritan Bay and Cape May.
Pound nets are nets strung across poles fixed in the water that create a pen
that the fish get trapped in. In the old
days, sport fishermen could stop by the nets on their way to the fishing grounds and buy
fresh or live bunker for bait. Statewide the
pound nets and one purse bait boat provided about 1 million pounds of bunker each year.
Today most menhaden are caught in
boats by a method called purse seining. This is where the boat lets out a net as it
circles the school of fish and then it closes the net together creating a purse. Then fish are scooped or pumped out of the purse.
Reduction of menhaden is simply the
grinding of the fish into fishmeal and extracting the oil. The fishmeal is used as
livestock feed and the oils can be used as a food supplement or additive and has FDA
approval for inclusion in many food products.
There are 2 classes of boats that
fish for menhaden.
The smaller inshore bait boats run
from about 35 ft long to around 50 ft. Annually
they take around 30 million pounds of bunker from NJ state waters. There are 34 NJ permits
but only around 20 or 24 active boats. These are all locally owned and operated and
generate jobs for NJ residents.
The larger reduction boats are around
70 ft long and use much larger nets. Their
take from NJ waters varies considerably but they have averaged around 70 million pounds
for the last 10 years and have taken as much as 119 million pounds (that's almost 60,000
tons). These boats come from Virginia and historically have worked coastal waters from the
Carolinas to Maine. Their catch is
brought to their processing plant in Reedsville VA.
According to Omega Protein, the
processing company that owns and operates the reduction boats, their boats collectively
spend about 15 fishing days in NJ waters ( that could be 2 boats each working 7 or 8
days). In just a 2 week period 2 reduction boats can catch twice as much as the entire
Jersey bait fleet catches all season. You can see that this massive fishing effort can
have a major impact on the forage base in our region.
In terms of pounds landed, menhaden
is the largest fishery on the east coast.
I hope this helps you understand the
menhaden fishery a little more.