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Started By
Message
Is overfishing of menhaden a threat to speckled trout? Louisiana Sportsman
Posted on 5/22/20 at 7:15 pm
Posted on 5/22/20 at 7:15 pm
Interesting article about Menhaden and it's vital role to the health of the coastal fisheries.
LINK
quote:
As a forage species and filter feeder, menhaden are essential to the ecology of the Gulf of Mexico, according to Ault. The Gulf’s myriad of fish species, marine mammals and birds of prey eat menhaden, which constantly filter water through their gills, thus serving as a vital ecological cleaning system.
quote:
What’s the value of filtering? Ault has said the menhaden population at historical levels could filter the Mississippi River’s discharge 34 times over each year.
“An average 8-inch fish can filter 1.2 million gallons a year,” he said.
Ault also brought his message in October 2017 to Marsh Madness in Venice, where sportfishing media and industry reps met at charter captain Mike Frenette’s Redfish Lodge of Louisiana.
quote:
The message is, speckled trout and redfish are almost automatically in an overfished condition with current menhaden exploitation. Preliminary data he showed that was generated by an ecosystem model under development by scientists at the University of Florida and NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center as part of a project funded by NOAA Restore Science Program shows that taking out so many menhaden results in a 50% reduction in the speckled trout biomass along Louisiana’s coast, compared to no menhaden fishing.
quote:
“You can’t take that much food out of the water and have it not affect the animals that need that food,” Macaluso said. “I’m talking about a lot of food for predators that are being taken out of the Mississippi and Louisiana coastlines.”
LINK
14
Posted on 5/22/20 at 7:32 pm to cajuncarguy
Those large pogies they are targeting are affecting the bull redfish population. I don’t think it hurts trout that much. Those pogie boats are the dreads of society. They get a lot of reds in bycatch and our state allows it. WTF.
Posted on 5/23/20 at 12:29 am to lsuson
They have wreaked havoc for decades on the trout fishery as they are the primary forage for large adult trout more so than even mullet.
It has also drastically altered our once vibrant Tarpon fishery.
Omega needs to leave Louisiana
It has also drastically altered our once vibrant Tarpon fishery.
Omega needs to leave Louisiana
Posted on 5/23/20 at 7:46 am to MrLSU
Not to mention it is the worst smell in the world when they cook that shite.
Posted on 5/23/20 at 8:12 am to diat150
Virginia allows menhaden trawling in the lower Chesapeake Bay and it's killed the sportsman fishing. They use spotter planes to find the schools and wipe them out plus by product. It's criminal and politicians are being paid.
Posted on 5/23/20 at 8:35 am to cajuncarguy
What can the average joe do to fight this
Posted on 5/23/20 at 8:44 am to cajuncarguy
Wonder if Asian carp could be used instead of menhaden?
Would be a win win
Would be a win win
Posted on 5/23/20 at 9:30 am to cajuncarguy
I worked in Coastal NC over 20 years ago. Back then, they were having the same discussion there.
LINK /
LINK /
Posted on 5/23/20 at 9:53 am to hall59tiger
quote:
What can the average joe do to fight this
Organize a flotilla to block the pogy boats from leaving Empire.
Posted on 5/23/20 at 10:05 am to hall59tiger
quote:
What can the average joe do to fight this
Contact your politician and urge them to do something about it.
Posted on 5/23/20 at 11:01 am to cajuncarguy
quote:
Is overfishing of menhaden a threat to speckled trout?
Short answer = absolutely 100% yes!
Posted on 5/23/20 at 12:44 pm to TopWaterTiger
Even if you forget the food source and filtering they are taking out, the by catch on those big pogie boats is unreal. I feel like there are few types of commercial fishing that are really harmful to the whole system, this is one of them.
Posted on 5/23/20 at 7:48 pm to cajuncarguy
The pogie fishery has paid lobbyists in Baton Rouge, bleive that
Posted on 5/23/20 at 8:09 pm to cajuncarguy
Friends,
There was a time in the mid 1990s when poagies were so thick in Lake Pontchartrain that you could walk for blocks on them. I do not know if it was the damming of the MRGO, the overfishing of poagies in the Gulf, a combination, or some other factor, but those poagie schools aren't found in the Lake as they were 25 years ago. It makes me sad thinking about those days. Even by the time I shrimped with Capt. Mike, the poagies were largely gone.
Yours,
TulaneLSU
There was a time in the mid 1990s when poagies were so thick in Lake Pontchartrain that you could walk for blocks on them. I do not know if it was the damming of the MRGO, the overfishing of poagies in the Gulf, a combination, or some other factor, but those poagie schools aren't found in the Lake as they were 25 years ago. It makes me sad thinking about those days. Even by the time I shrimped with Capt. Mike, the poagies were largely gone.
Yours,
TulaneLSU
Posted on 5/23/20 at 11:36 pm to cajuncarguy
It's not going to get any better, either, ESPECIALLY with the corrupt government in this state. In about three weeks, a moratorium on the menhaden fishery in Virginia goes into effect. The moratorium is because Omega blew right past the caps on the catch limits for the fishery. 33% of the menhaden fisheries are on the Atlantic seaboard and Virginia is the largest fishery there.
Where do you think Omega is going to look to make up their shortfall?
Feds shut down Atlantic menhaden fishery in Virginia.
Where do you think Omega is going to look to make up their shortfall?
Feds shut down Atlantic menhaden fishery in Virginia.
This post was edited on 5/23/20 at 11:42 pm
Posted on 5/24/20 at 6:27 am to cajuncarguy
I fished a good bit during the Deepwater Horizon spill. That is the year I saw the most school's of them I may have ever seen. My fisrt thought was perhaps the oil pushed more in around Venice, but came to realize it's because all commercial fishing had been shut down.
Would love to see about a 5 year pause on the pogie boat fleet in the gulf and see how the fishery responds.
Would love to see about a 5 year pause on the pogie boat fleet in the gulf and see how the fishery responds.
Posted on 5/24/20 at 9:30 pm to cajuncarguy
I am not even going to get started on this post as the answer is so ducking obvious, and I have argued this point for 30 damn years.
Before the ducking pogy industry started at urging of the feds, you could catch king mackerel and 6 foot tarpon right off the beach in Pascagoula to Destin. Trout and redfish were everywhere.
It’s a complete travesty
Before the ducking pogy industry started at urging of the feds, you could catch king mackerel and 6 foot tarpon right off the beach in Pascagoula to Destin. Trout and redfish were everywhere.
It’s a complete travesty
Posted on 5/25/20 at 6:43 am to TutHillTiger
They were working off fourchon beach all week. 2 spotter planes.
Posted on 5/25/20 at 7:46 am to cajuncarguy
quote:
s Doug Olander pointed out in a story published March 2 in Sport Fishing, menhaden boats from Omega Protein Inc. and Daybrook Fisheries Inc. kill countless numbers of speckled trout, redfish, croakers and anything else entrapped in their huge seine nets.
quote:
There is an economic angle to the issue, he said, noting an American Sportfishing Association study estimated the value of the Gulf of Mexico recreational fishing industry at approximately $44 billion a year. Omega’s menhaden industry is worth $325 million per year.
Why are we letting two foreign companies continue to deplete limited Louisiana resources, from which there may be no return to historic levels? The bycatch issues are not in dispute - they need to go.
What shoudn't be surprising is our legislators tolerate this.
This post was edited on 5/25/20 at 7:46 am
Posted on 5/25/20 at 8:37 am to Mr Breeze
quote:
What shoudn't be surprising is our legislators tolerate this.
I think the problem is that this isn't a well known issue and the sportsmen as a whole are not vocal about it. I put zero thought into this ever before I read this thread, and I've worked for omega before.
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