Where Are the Bunker?

Environmentalists, birders, anglers and a New York Times editorial hailed a Nov. 9 vote by a commission of 15 Atlantic coastal states that cut back the commercial harvest of Atlantic menhaden, or "bunker," a herring cousin often described as "the most important fish in the sea."

For "sea," read the Atlantic ocean, of which the menhaden is a cornerstone of the food pyramid, forage for creatures ranging from ospreys and bald eagles to striped bass and bluefish.

"Today's vote is a welcome step for a fish that hasn't caught a break since Dwight Eisenhower was president," said Peter Baker, director of Northeast fisheries at the Pew Environment Group, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. Pew has championed the cause of menhaden conservation, which has spawned myriad advocacy organizations with names such as "Menhaden Defenders."

"Most fishermen will salute the decision as truly positive for predators ... fishermen and the environment," said Robert Crook of Madison, head of the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen.

"A victory for consumers and for conservationists," said The New York Times, noting that menhaden are eaten by many fish that, in turn, humans consume.

Indeed, the media and a large, disparate segment of the public, from shark-huggers to fish catchers, for whom the menhaden is prime bait, celebrated the decision by the Atlantic States Fisheries Commission as a triumph over huge factory ships, which can hold 500 tons of fish and, some contend, are sweeping the seas clean of the species. All summer, Long Island Sound anglers asked, "Where are the bunker?" They blamed the vessels, traditionally accompanied by spotter aircraft, for the paucity of bunker in local waters. The virtual absence from some estuaries of young menhaden, called "peanuts," also was attributed to overfishing of adults.

The truth is that many factors influence the numbers of peanuts inshore, said Dave Simpson, director of marine fisheries for Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Conservation (DEEP). Menhaden spawn in spring about 50 miles offshore. Eggs and larvae are at the mercy of wind and wave to carry them toward the estuaries that serve as nurseries. If the wind and currents do not cooperate, says Smith, peanuts will be scarce.

"You take what nature gives you," said Smith, one of Connecticut's three representatives on the commission.

Created in 1942 to manage East Coast fisheries, the commission is composed of representatives from 15 Atlantic seaboard states. The commission's action unquestionably was a positive one for the future of menhaden but a stand-alone solution, as many of its backers suppose. Scrutiny of scientific inquiry into the perceived menhaden decline shows that restriction of  catch limits by itself is not the key to maintaining a healthy menhaden population long-term.

Announcement of the vote by the commission itself was neither celebratory nor combative toward the commercial menhaden fishing industry. Rather, it described in dense, scientific prose how the harvest reduction will be framed by other considerations, including biological and economic factors, all aimed at increasing the overall availability of menhaden, along with its abundance and spawning stock. At its annual meeting in Boston, the commission cut the annual menhaden harvest by 37 percent, reducing the take from 183,000 metric tons to 174,000 metric tons by 2013. The reduction will take place after a year of implementation planning. Favoring a lesser restriction, New Jersey, Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission (Virginia and Maryland) voted against the measure.

The only plant that processes Atlantic menhaden on the East Coast is in the community of Reedville, in Virginia's Northern Neck. Founded in the 19th century by John and Thomas Haynie, the operation evolved into Texas-based Omega Protein Inc., which owns the plant and fishing fleets that account for the bulk of the menhaden harvest; about 20 percent is taken for bait. Processed menhaden is the basis of an international market in products such as diet supplements, fertilizer, shortening, margarine, processed foods and animal feed. According to the Virginian-Pilot newspaper, Virginia fisheries officials warn that the cuts in the harvest could cost many jobs in the state's menhaden industry.

A report issued early this year by the commission indicated that Atlantic menhaden actually are not overfished at this time, with the qualification that more analysis is needed to say so with certainty. On the other hand, populations in the Chesapeake Bay, center of the fishing industry, have been hammered. Be that as it may, some studies say that in the last quarter century, menhaden have decreased from about 70 million to 20 million. Historically, menhaden have undergone natural boom-or-bust cycles, but the commission notes that since the 1990s, the yearly recruitment of young has been "low." Connecticut's Simpson, however, noted that menhaden are extremely prolific and a single good breeding year could increase the numbers of young five- or ten-fold. Fishing pressure, he notes, is but one card in the deck when it comes to managing menhaden.

As things now stand, undeniably, the great schools of menhaden, darkening the sea like miles-long ink blots, pursued overhead by sea birds and down below by bluefish and bass, are largely of the past. Environmentalists warn that, along with bass and bluefish, ospreys and bald eagles are losing an important source of sustenance. Indeed, studies show that osprey nests in some areas contain far fewer menhaden remains than usual. And in the Chesapeake, scientists find that many stripers are scrawnier than the norm, perhaps because they lack the rich nutrients supplied by oily menhaden. Unmentioned is the fact that, due to solid conservation efforts, both ospreys and stripers have exploded in numbers, putting increased pressure on their favorite food. Simply, there are more predators eating the prey. As for low recruitment of young, the  massive loss of estuarine wetlands all along the coast has not helped increase peanut numbers.

The commission's curb on fishing represents preventative conservation to head off future declines in the overall population and repair local concentrations that have been depleted. To complete the picture, scientists have to look below the surface, as it were. More information is needed on how to balance the take by natural as well as human predators upon the menhaden stock. Fisheries managers must figure out the age, or size, of menhaden that contribute most to producing enough young to support both types of predators without decline. Conservation of a species is an extremely complex affair, beyond the ramifications of commercial fishing.

Speaking of ramifications, one that may arise from harvest restrictions may have escaped the notice of anglers who supported the curbs. The Virginian-Pilot quoted a Virginia fisheries official who noted that the price of bait may well go up.