The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries.
SCEMFIS Funds Chesapeake Bay Menhaden Research Roadmap to Inform a Scientifically Defensible Bay Cap
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and NOAA scientists to develop a plan for a scientifically defensible Chesapeake Bay menhaden harvest cap.
The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS) has funded a new project that will create a detailed and actionable roadmap that identifies the research needed to develop a scientifically defensible and ecologically meaningful Chesapeake Bay harvest cap for Atlantic menhaden.
The project, funded at the Center's fall meeting, is being led by scientists from the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL) at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), and NOAA. The team is experienced in matters related to Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, bringing decades of peer-reviewed research, assessment leadership, and survey design expertise to this work.
Read more about it here.
Atlantic Menhaden: Fishing By the Numbers
According to an analysis from the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition, between 2004-2013, the menhaden fishery only harvested an average of 6.4 percent of the total menhaden population. This leaves over 93% of menhaden left in the ecosystem as forage for birds, fish and other sea creatures. Menhaden fishing mortality, which hit an all-time low in the last assessment, is dwarfed by natural mortality, which accounts for predation and mortality from other causes outside of the fishery.
MENHADEN FISHERIES
Atlantic Menhaden
Gulf Menhaden
MENHADEN USES
Menhaden & Nutrition
Menhaden as Bait
