Lots of Reasons to Decline Lenfest's Menhaden Reference Points, Says Beaufort Lab Scientist
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] Nov 10, 2017
Joseph Smith is a retired marine scientist formerly with the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Beaufort Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service. He has written an op-ed on the debate before the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
His letter is below:
Since the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force issued their publication, "Little Fish, Big Impact" in 2012, there has been an enormous focus on “forage fish” – small schooling stocks important food for larger marine predators. Atlantic menhaden, a stock on which I worked for over thirty years as a scientist for the National Marine Fisheries Service, is now a subject of this focus.
Despite being abundant and widely distributed, the debate over menhaden centers on a looming decision by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission over how to adopt reference points that incorporate menhaden’s role in the ecosystem. At the broadest level, this goal is impossible to argue against.
The pending question..
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