The U.S. state of Maine recently reconsidered its plan to place a two-year freeze on the state’s menhaden fishery as it considers pushing for a bigger piece of the overall quota.
The freeze would have closed all newcomers to the fishery for two years as the state comes up with a licensing system for the fishery, according to the Portland Press Herald, which has increased after the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission first granted a larger quota of 2.4 million pounds in 2018 (13 times the quota available in previous years). That quota was further increased in 2019, after fishermen exceeded the quota by 1.5 million pounds, yet the species was still being found in abundance in the state’s waters.
That increase is dubbed an “episodic event,” triggered when a state has data indicating an unusually large amount of menhaden in its state waters. The increase can allow for 4.7 million pounds of additional quota.
The increase in quota was a blessing for many of the state’s lobster fishermen, who were grappling with bait shortages due to cuts to the region’s herring quota. Some fishermen, the Press Herald said, had decided to get into the fishery just before the state was potentially going to shut it down.
“I put my money down back in November, and now they are saying I can’t go fishing?” lobsterman Chad Benner asked state lawmakers, referring to a recent purchase of a USD 15,000 (EUR 13,813) net to fish for the species, which is locally called pogy. “I’ve got a kid to support, and a family. I won’t even be able to sell (the net) because nobody could get a license.”
Testimony from many fishermen like Benner caused the state to reverse its course on freezing the menhaden fishery as it comes up with new rules, which wasn’t entirely welcomed by some of the larger menhaden fishers in the region. Those fishermen expressed worries that a lack of a freeze would result in too many fishermen in the waters, especially in the wake of 50 new boats joining the fleet in 2019.
Regardless of a fishery freeze, the state still plans to enact new rules to the growing fishery in the coming years, which will require legislative input.
Photo courtesy of NOAA
