VIMS to Access Social and Economic Value of Menhaden
A new three-year study led by researchers at VIMS seeks input from commercial and recreational anglers and other stakeholders to help assess the social and economic value of menhaden in Chesapeake Bay.
The socioeconomic study complements several ecological studies of menhaden populations in Chesapeake Bay by fisheries researchers at VIMS.
Atlantic Menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) are small, oily fish that lie at the center of a debate concerning their relative importance to the Bay ecosystem and economy. Menhaden support one of the most commercially important fisheries along the Atlantic Coast, providing fish meal, fish oil, and bait for other fisheries. They also play an important ecological role, filtering Bay waters by consuming large quantities of plankton, and serving as a favorite food for striped bass and other popular game fish.
The study, by VIMS researchers Jim Kirkley, Tom Murray, Winnie Ryan, and Dennis Taylor, will compare menhaden's economic contributions both in terms of the commercial fishery and the "ecosystem services" that menhaden provide. Assisting in the study are researchers Rob Hicks (College of William and Mary); Doug Lipton, Ted McConnell, and Ivar Strand (University of Maryland); and John Duberg of the Nearing Group (Baltimore, MD).
The study will also assess the importance of menhaden to the viability of the communities that depend on the fish for their livelihood. Those include Reedville, Virginia, home to the Chesapeake Bay's commercial menhaden fleet and processing facilities, and Deltaville, home to a recreational charter fleet that frequently targets the game fish that depend on menhaden as prey. In addition, the researchers will examine the potential social and economic importance of menhaden to other communities and stakeholder groups in both Virginia and Maryland.
Results of the study will help the Virginia Marine Resource Commission (VMRC) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decide among alternative regulatory and conservation options for menhaden. It also will provide detailed information about how alternative options might impact affected communities.
Members of the research team are currently seeking input to assist in their project assessments. Interested stakeholders can participate by way of an interactive web site at http://wiki.wm.edu/openwiki/index.php/Atlantic_Menhaden_Study. Registered members of this web site will be able to post comments, receive notice of additions and changes, and participate in on-line discussions of project progress.
Individuals interested in knowing more about the study, providing input, or obtaining a copy of the research proposal may also telephone or e-mail Jim Kirkley (804-684-7160, jkirkley@vims.edu) or Winnie Ryan (804-684-7938, winnie@vims.edu), or contact them via land mail at the College of William and Mary, VIMS/SMS, PO Box 1346, Gloucester Point, VA 23062-1346.
Funding for the project is from VMRC's Recreational and Commercial Fisheries Boards.
President Signs Order to Protect Striped Bass and Red Drum
On October 20, with the vast expanse of the Chesapeake Bay as his backdrop, President George Bush signed an Executive Order establishing gamefish status for striped bass and red drum in federal waters, moving another step forward in conserving two of the most popular game fish in the United States.
“This Executive Order has the full support of the sportfishing industry,” said Mike Nussman, American Sportfishing Association (ASA) president and CEO. “By signing the order, the President sends the right message about the need to ensure that striped bass and red drum endure as a species and as sportfish to be enjoyed by anglers now and for generations to come. We have been working with a number of organizations for years to see that this critical conservation measure came to be, and we applaud the President for his action.”
"With this action, the President has secured a legacy for the recreational anglers and conservationists who have worked so hard on behalf of our marine resources," said Walter W. Fondren III, chairman of Coastal Conservation Association. "When CCA began to work on recovering red drum 30 years ago in Texas, we never imagined an event like this would ever be possible. We owe a debt of gratitude to the President for recognizing the high value placed on these resources by the citizens of this country."
In his remarks, the President highlighted the economic importance that America’s 40 million anglers have on the nation’s economy and acknowledged the recreational, economic and environmental benefits that conserving these two species will have now and on future generations of Americans.
This Executive Order directs the Commerce and Interior Departments to put regulations in place to establish gamefish status for red drum and striped bass in federal waters. In his remarks, the President made it clear that he also supports improving the quality of data available for managing our fish stocks. The President said, “We’re going to count on the people who really care about the fish stocks to get good, solid, sound information so we can do a better job not only today, but tomorrow, in making sure our fisheries are strong.”
Due to intense overfishing, both striped bass and red drum were nearly decimated in the 1970s and into the 1980s. This decline led to a drive by recreational anglers to curtail the harvest of these species by imposing federal moratoriums on commercial and recreational striped bass and red drum fishing in federal waters. The President’s Executive Order would ban the commercial sale of red drum and striped bass in federal waters. A number of states already prohibit the sale of these fish caught in state waters.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation:
Practicing What They Preach
by Charlie Coates
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Remember that one? You don’t hear that statement much anymore, partly because it was an inane thing to say in the first place, but mainly because it turns out that we were doing plenty about the weather all along. Sadly, what we were doing was committing a grave atrocity against old Mother Earth. Yes, global warming and climate change are more than mere rumors.
So, maybe now we could dust off that old adage and replace the word “weather” with “global warming.” Or “pollution.” Or “wetlands,” or “forestlands,” or just plain “environment.” Is anybody doing anything about these problems, or are we all just talking about them?
Fortunately for us and our planet, a number of organizations are indeed doing something about them. One group that comes to mind is the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), which is dedicated to doing something about the plight of a very special part of our planet. Many of us at least know of CBF by their slogan, “Save the Bay.” Those three little words are becoming a taller order each year, as the Bay faces a steady stream of new challenges. But CBF has not given up, and neither should the rest of us.
While having had an abstract idea of what CBF is all about for some time, I have to confess to being woefully ignorant of the depth of its involvement and commitment until last spring when I visited their headquarters in Annapolis, Md. The annual conference of the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association was being held in nearby Grasonville, and we were invited to a pre-conference tour of the Philip Merrill Environmental Center.
Tours of people’s workplaces aren’t usually high on my to-do list, but CBF’s 32,000-square-foot headquarters is well worth the time to anyone even nominally interested in conservation and the environment. The Center, which opened in December 2000 and houses nearly 100 staff members, is likely the world’s “greenest” building, designed to reflect CBF’s mission to protect and restore the Bay.
All building components are made of recycled materials or created through processes that are harmless to the environment. From waterless composting toilets to a system of cisterns that captures rainwater for reuse, the Center’s water conservation innovations result in a usage level that is less than five percent that of a conventional office building. Its solar collector system provides hot water for the building, and geothermal wells drilled into the earth reach below the frost line to take advantage of a constant 50-degree temperature that assists in cooling the Center in summer and heating it in winter. The entire complex needs to be seen to be appreciated.
OK, so CBF has a cool home where they practice what they preach. But who are they, and what do they actually do?
CBF is the only independent organization dedicated solely to restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Founded in 1967, CBF has grown to more than 177,000 active members, and has a staff of approximately 165 full-time employees, with offices in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Their mission, simply stated, is to improve water quality by reducing pollution.
Staff includes scientists, policy experts, attorneys, educators and grassroots organizers who pursue CBF’s goal through environmental advocacy and education, litigation, strategic communications, and habitat restoration throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
CBF is heavily involved in environmental education, with the goal of inspiring students and adults to become life-long stewards of the Bay. Each year, more than 40,000 students take part in environmental programs such as planting trees and restoring oysters. In Virginia, volunteers grow, monitor and re-plant underwater grasses.
CBF is not shy about using their legal clout either, having filed several challenges to force the Environmental Protection Agency, along with Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, to comply with the Clean Water Act and to require enforceable permit limits on nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from treatment and industrial plants.
Most recently, CBF was instrumental in saving 754 acres of Eastern Shore farmland near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge from development. On November 6, the day before state elections, the Ehrlich administration changed its stand on the matter and announced plans to preserve the contested land. CBF had filed seven lawsuits and collected 37,000 signatures on petitions urging preservation.
State of the Bay
CBF may be best known for its annual State of the Bay report, first issued in 1998. For the report, CBF evaluates 13 indicators: oysters, shad, crabs, striped bass, underwater grasses, wetlands, forested buffers, resource lands, toxics, water clarity, dissolved oxygen, and phosphorus and nitrogen pollution.
CBF scientists compile and examine the best available historical and up-to-date information for each indicator and assign it an index score and letter grade. Taken together, these indicators offer an assessment of Bay health compared with that of the pristine estuary Captain John Smith explored 400 years ago. That unspoiled ecosystem rates a benchmark 100 on CBF’s scale. A recovered Chesapeake Bay would score a 70, with a grade of at least 40 required to remove the Bay from the nation’s dirty waters list by 2010 as mandated by the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement.
The 2006 State of the Bay report, released November 13, gives the Bay a dismal score of 29 (letter grade D), actually up two points from 2004 and 2005 (F). Even that meager two-point gain comes with a qualifier. The improvement was primarily caused by reduced nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and a corresponding decrease in the Bay’s oxygen-deprived dead zone due to below-normal rainfall in the spring.
“During the summer of 2006, the volume of the Bay’s dead zone was far smaller than previous years, but Mother Nature was responsible for much of the improvement,” said CBF President Will Baker. “March and April were among the driest on record, and pollution was reduced as a result.”
Humans can take some credit, however, as pollution from industrial sources and sewage treatment plants is gradually being reduced as a result of tightened permit limits and upgrading of plants with technology to reduce pollution.
“It is too soon to tell if this is a trend,” says Baker. “But we do know that this improvement is illustrative of what we can expect to enjoy if our elected officials implement the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement. Sadly, funding and programs are in place to achieve only a little more than one-third of the region’s commitments. That must change. The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure, and much more must be achieved to save it.”
For more information on the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, including the 2006 State of the Bay report and how individuals and groups can get involved in saving the Bay, go to www.cbf.org.
