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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 7
March 2007
Menhaden fishery under fire again in Narragansett Bay
PROVIDENCE, RI – At the request of the Rhode Island Salt Water Anglers Association (RISAA), a controversial bill has been introduced into the Rhode Island Legislature that proposes a ban on purse seining for all menhaden in Narragansett Bay.
The bill has alarmed a local bait supplier and the Rhode Island Lobstermen’s Association (RILA), whose members worry about the effect such a ban would have on the availability of bait.
Gerry Souza, co-owner of Ark Bait, which is based in Swansea, MA, has been working in the purse seine baitfish industry in Narragansett Bay for the past 29 years.
“Menhaden migrate from Florida to New Brunswick,” said Souza. “We’ve worked with them (RISAA) for closures in the past but they’re not satisfied. If they ban the fishery outright, we will most likely go out of business.”
Souza pointed out that recent stock information from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission indicates that menhaden are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring, though localized depletions can occur.
Besides bait concerns, RILA Executive Director Elizabeth Kordowski voiced concern over the science used in support of the bill and suggested the bill may be in violation of the state’s “Freedom to Fish Act.”
The Rhode Island Freedom to Fish and Marine Conservation Act, which was adopted in 2003, requires a full public review and “sufficient justification” based on the best available science for any closure of commercial or recreational fishing areas in the state.
The proposed menhaden bill bypasses this step, Kordowski said, since the request by the RISAA was taken directly to the legislature.
She added, “RILA has been working closely with Save the Bay and other prominent fishing groups to move this delicate issue forward in the right direction.”
Who’s next?
RISAA is justifying the purse seine ban proposal in part by arguing that menhaden are “filter feeders” that “remove phytoplankton and detritus from the water” in enormous amounts and, by doing so, help clean the bay.
“Imagine a special water treatment plant that is capable of filtering billions of gallons of Narragansett Bay water each year,” RISAA’s Stephen Medeiros wrote in an October 2006 RISAA newsletter. “Imagine what that would cost. Imagine if this was even possible. This is the true value of menhaden.”
Souza disagreed that his baitfish operation does anything to significantly impact such a filter-feeding process.
“This is not the case. Ark Bait does not fish on the smaller peanut bunkers that are the best filter feeders,” he said in an e-mail sent to Commercial Fisheries News spelling out his position.
“Fish kills have occurred in the bay as a result of the deplorable conditions of our bay’s water (due to pollution),” Souza continued. “Stopping the seining of menhaden is not going to stop this.”
He added that more than 15 families rely on Ark Bait for their livelihood, as do “hundreds of honest, hardworking, year-round lobster fishermen.”
Concluded Souza, “Ark Bait prides itself in complying with all federal and state laws regarding reporting, safety, and conservation. Yet all of the parameters that are currently in place would be discounted and ignored for a specific interest group.”
Mason Beutel
Lorelei Stevens
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