it's fairly well known menhaden (bunker, pogies, etc.) are being
overfished on the east coast. virginia fishery management is the
principal villain because of the commercial practices it
allows...practices that every other state has banned. nc is a bit
stricter, but a co-villain nontheless. lots of articles over the last
few years in various fishing, science, and resource literature...here's
a basic sample:


"it supports many species from popular sport fish all the way up to
Atlantic whales. And if the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean are where
the menhaden call home, this little fish could win the Good Housekeeping
Award. That's because the menhaden is a filter-feeder, meaning it cleans
impurities in the water. That's crucial to the Chesapeake Bay, where
water pollution from farm and sewage runoff is creating increasingly
severe problems for the bay and its inhabitants.

But this hard-working little fish is disappearing fast, and its job in
the food chain is irreplaceable.

The menhaden is not only a small fish, but it's also rather bony - not
exactly appetizing for most people. But there is an enormous fishing
operation sucking millions of these little fish out of coastal waters
every year. In fact, menhaden make up America's second largest fishery.
So, if people aren't eating the menhaden, why is this little fish being
targeted?

The Omega Protein company vacuums massive quantities - hundreds of
thousands of tons - of menhaden through state-of-the-art factory fishing
vessels that locate entire schools of these tiny fish. The company then
processes menhaden for use as protein supplements and fishmeal.

Ironically, much of Omega's fishmeal is sold to feed livestock or fish
farms - uses that harm marine ecosystems and threaten fishing
communities. In fact, one of the main uses for Omega's fishmeal is as
chicken feed, adding to the high-nutrient wastes already choking many
bays and estuaries - including the Chesapeake. Runoff from chicken
farms is also connected to the outbreak of toxic algae in the
mid-Atlantic region. Omega fishmeal is also used as food for large-scale
fish farms, which privatize the oceans and threaten wild fish stocks and
traditional fisheries through pollution and parasitic infestations,
among other dangers. Most of the remaining fishmeal goes into pet food.

Menhaden populations today are at near record lows, and there are
reports that some of their predators are starting to go hungry. The time
to act is now, before the tiny menhaden is lost forever."

jeff

On 11/30/2011 8:19 PM, Tom Littleton wrote:
On 11/30/2011 8:33 AM, jeff wrote:
economic realities and effective resource management realities often
conflict...and politicians are the worst managers of each. i personally
think the pendulum has swung wildly to policies of personal greed and
consumption in most of the southern coastal states. the outer banks and
barrier islands of virginia and the carolinas are unique and precious
resources that need protection from human over-development and
over-consumption. in north carolina, we have limited and managed vehicle
use on our beaches. i'm all for the appropriate management and
limitation of vehicular traffic on beaches. unmanaged, the fools ruin
the beaches for everyone, including those who responsibly travel on the
sand, and for the wildlife. they four-wheel over dunes and sea oats.
they drive over nesting sites. they disrupt and irreparably damage an
already fragile eco-system. that said...weather and sea always have the
final say. i am a proponent of no vehicles on fragile beaches and
barrier islands. hell, i'm a proponent of no vehicles on any beach. that
said...there are some areas and beaches that seem to tolerate the use.
most of nc's core banks...a national seashore including cape
lookout...has a long history of managed beach vehicle use.

...and tom...how about getting the virginia fat cats focused on the
destructive commercial menhaden fishing up there! g



see prior reply to Dave on the details of how the entire coast on the
Eastern Shore is managed. I think it's a workable compromise, having one
island with some access.
As for the bunker fishing, I didn't realize the little devils were all
that threatened. Hell, around 2 million of them turn up in harbors from
Quimby down to Cape Charles every year due to oxygen turnover alone. You
could walk across Quimby harbor on a bad day on a layer of dead
bunker(ahem, mehaden). Fill me in, counselor.......
Tom