Position Statements

CCA MD Position on Atlantic Menhaden Management

Atlantic menhaden are often thought of as a commercial species and of little value to the recreational fishery. It is primarily used in the commercial industry for protein and oil production, with a growing number used as bait for various commercial fisheries such as crabs and lobsters.

Coastal Conservation Association Maryland (CCA MD) believes menhaden are also among the most important recreational species. They are one of the primary forage species for a variety of important recreational fish species. Historically their abundance played an important role in filtering estuarine waters. In short they are one of the key components of the estuarine food web and a keystone species for the Chesapeake Bay.

CCA MD is extremely concerned about the current status of the Atlantic menhaden population, especially as it relates to the Chesapeake Bay:

The coastwide population of menhaden is now near the historically low level of the 1960’s, when it was declared overfished.
Survival of young menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay has been very low for over a decade and is near an all-time low.
The age structure of Atlantic menhaden is truncated with measurable numbers of fish 6 years and older failing to show up in the landings, as compared to fish up to 10 years of age that were recorded in measurable numbers in the past.
The industrial fishery now lands approximately 75% of its total catch from the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay.
The possibility of localized depletion is real, as the removal of menhaden by the industrial fishery in the Chesapeake Bay has doubled from its landings during the 1960’s historic lows to over 200 million pounds (nearly 11,000 tractor trailer loads, or a truck convoy, with bumpers touching, stretching for over 100 miles).

The ecological and economic benefits from a restored Atlantic menhaden population would be immeasurable to the nation and its marine resources. The direct benefits to the marine ecology would include improved water quality due to the filtering ability of menhaden, and expansion of economically valuable gamefish stocks resulting from an abundant, preferred forage supply. Indirect benefits would include expanded carrying capacity of our marine ecosystem resulting from improvement in the aquatic habitat. In addition there would be tremendous economic benefits derived from increased utilization of all aspects of our marine resources, both recreationally and commercially.

The current management of Atlantic menhaden calls for maximum sustainable yield or the greatest amount of fish that can be removed from the population without threatening their ability to replenish themselves. CCA MD believes that while this method may work for predator fish it is the wrong management method for forage species. Forage species should be managed for abundance. The more menhaden available the more food for larger stocks of predators and the more water is filtered. More menhaden would be a win, win for anglers, predators, commercial harvesters, and the Chesapeake Bay.

CCA Position: CCA MD supports the restoration of the Atlantic menhaden population, through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission process. We support the adoption of an abundance target and threshold with decision rules to restrict fishing mortality when the threshold is exceeded. We suggest that full restoration should not be declared until the Atlantic menhaden population is widely distributed throughout its historic geographic range, is represented by a full age structure, and is restored to an abundance equal to the average of the five highest years of abundance (age one fish and older) between 1975 through 1990. We support research to determine if localized depletion of Atlantic menhaden is occurring in the Chesapeake Bay, the placement of interim limits on the industrial menhaden harvest while that determination is being made, and the development and implementation of ecological reference points to provide for the management of Atlantic menhaden based their ecological values.

Approved by Executive Board
March 22, 2005