8/17/06 NCMC attended yesterday's meeting of the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Menhaden Management Board, where states voted overwhelmingly to move forward with Governor Tim Kaine’s proposal to cap the Virginia reduction fishery’s menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay. The Governor’s proposal, which has been drafted by the ASMFC as Addendum III to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden, must first undergo a public comment period before being submitted to the full Commission for a final vote.

In August of last year, the ASMFC voted, as a precautionary measure, to cap the annual harvest of menhaden in the bay at the average catch over the last five years while research was conducted to investigate evidence of localized depletion and its effects on menhaden predators. All states were to comply with the new regulation by July 1, 2006, although only the Commonwealth of Virginia allows a reduction fishery to operate in bay waters. After legislation to institute the cap failed in the Virginia General Assembly, the Governor acted to create a plan that would bring Virginia into compliance with the ASMFC decision.

Kaine’s proposal is true to the ASMFC’s intent in that it is designed to cap the bay catch at recent levels to prevent any growth in the commercial fishery, allowing time for research to be conducted. The Governor’s plan does allow a limited carryover of under-harvest, something the ASMFC plan does not permit, and it also uses more recent data to set the catch limit, effectively increasing the allowable annual harvest from 105,800 to 109,020 metric tons. Because of these variations from the original ASMFC decision, the proposal must undergo a review and public comment process. Maryland and Virginia plan to hold public hearings. Dates and locations of the hearings along with public comment documents for Draft Addendum III will be posted shortly on the ASMFC web site - www.asmfc.org. The final vote to approve the changes will take place at the Commission’s annual meeting in October. Until that time, the reduction industry has agreed in writing to a "voluntary" cap of their catch at the 109,020 mt average.

NCMC believes that if the proposal is accepted, it will achieve the objectives of the original ASMFC decision. The focus now should be on the research that will guide the Commission in its efforts to manage menhaden using an ecosystem-based approach in order to protect menhaden’s ecological role as forage and as an important filter-feeder in the Chesapeake Bay.