MAMFC Action on Unmanaged Forage Species

Last night I attended a scoping meeting on forage species hosted by the MAMFC.  It was an interesting meeting, they are asking anglers and fishing organizations to comment publicly by midnight tomorrow night (Friday, Oct 2) on the management of forage species.  Without getting into a huge amount of detail that will bore you to death.  Basically we need to manage the forage species, these are the smaller fish that feed the bigger fish we like to catch.  So far only a few species are being considered and last night during public comment it was brought to the council’s attention that species like chub mackerel need to be managed since they feed a diverse amount of offshore fish, like marlin.  It was pointed out that there are at least 3 different areas of forage fish habitats; off shore, in shore and bays.  There are more than that, but this was a good general starting point.  It was pointed out the council has a daunting task of identifying not only the forage fish, but their habitats and what predatory fish feed on which forage species.  Several people including myself brought up the fact that we need to protect the environments these forage fish thrive off of so they could grow and sustain their populations. In other words if you are going to increase the numbers of forage fish you need to make sure the habitat they thrive in is healthy.  I brought up the Rehoboth outfall, if we pump that waste water into the ocean we are creating a detriment to the forage species.  Not to mention the fact Delaware waters are very polluted (90%) and that they (MAFMC) have a relationship with the EPA that can help create better regulations for cleaner waters.

Now at this point you are asking yourself why should I care if we protect a bunch of minnows?  Well there are industries within the commercial fishery that are starting to look at forage fish as a source for fish meals and oils.  Being cut off from regulated species, they are looking towards unregulated or unmananged species as an income source.   I don’t think I have to point out the problems we have with menhaden (bunker) or herring at this present time.  Can you imagine how fast sand eels could be wiped out if they were targeted for fish meal and oils by factory fishing boats.  What needs to happen is the forage fish need to be managed so they can also be protected.  In order to do that the MAMFC has to study these fish and come up with regulations.  This will take some time, in fact it will take a great deal of time.  In the mean time we need them to come up with a solid list of the forage fish we want protected so they can start that process now, before an industry is created  around a species and it is hampered.  The other reason you should worry about the forage fish is we need food for the very fish that are regulated now.  We just had a reduction in striped bass and as numbers increase they will need food.  If forage fish numbers are reduced by commercial fishing then the food source is limited and the stocks don’t have foods to help them rebuild.

I apologize this article is not very detailed, I could write pages on this subject.  Basically we need the MAMFC to manage the forage fish and we need them to know which fish are to be managed.  Each state is different since we all have diverse fisheries.  I urge (beg) you to write these folks and tell them what you think should be done for the forage fish management.  This is the link for the White Paper on Forage fish, this next link is the MAFMC website section about the Ecosystem approach to fisheries management.  There is a lot of information to read on these sites.  Thankfully the weather might give you the time to look into all of this.  You can comment 3 ways … the easiest is directly in the comment section on the MAFMC website all you have to do is answer the questions as a guideline so to speak.  The next way is to send an email to … jbeaty@mafmc.org with Unmanaged Forage Scoping Comments in the subject line.  Finally you can send a fax to 302 674 5399 to Dr. Chris Moore, Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Advisory Council in Dover, DE.  There is an address for mailing,but that will not be in enough time.

Please take the time to help make this happen for the sake of the future of the entire fishery.  You have to realize the forage fish are a direct link to the plankton in the food chain.  They eat the little stuff so they can grow and feed the big fish.  It is that simple and they need to be managed or protected.

Fish On!!

Rich King