Times editorial:
[The New York Times] Editorial - November 11, 2011
People do not eat menhaden, an oily little forage fish. But the fish that people do eat -- like bluefish and striped bass -- depend heavily on menhaden for their diet. So it is very good news that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, representing 15 eastern states and the federal government, has now moved to protect the menhaden, an essential link in the food chain whose numbers have plummeted over the last half-century. The commission voted to cut the menhaden harvest 37 percent by 2013, compared with 2010 levels.
This is a victory for consumers and for conservationists like the Pew Environment Group, which for years has been sounding alarms about the menhaden's decline and its consequences for the ocean ecosystem. The only possible loser is Omega Protein, a Virginia-based company that catches several hundred million pounds of menhaden a year along the Atlantic Seaboard -- about 80 percent of the total catch -- then grinds them up for fertilizer and feed for livestock on factory farms.
Omega Protein warned of a loss of jobs, but it is hard to feel sorry for a company that has dominated the market for so long. Like industrialized fishing interests all over the world, it has shown little sensitivity to the long-range effects of their practices.
The job now is making sure the harvest reductions actually occur. This means that the states, in conjunction with the National Marine Fisheries Service, will have to set numerical limits on the catch and then monitor it on a regular basis when the fishing boats come to port. The agreement allows for upward adjustments when stocks rebound to sustainable levels. But until they do, these long-overdue protections must remain in place.
