by: Jaclyn Higgins
posted in: Forage Fish
October 4, 2024
Anglers Cheer Reintroduction of Forage Fish Conservation Act
This legislation, introduced in the U.S. House, aims to ensure that species at the foundation of the marine food chain are plentiful enough to sustain sportfish populations
As all anglers know, where you find the bait, you find the fish. Forage fish like herring, sardines, and shad are an essential part of marine ecosystems, serving as a nutrient-rich superfood for larger fish, marine mammals, and seabirds. These bait fish support the diets of humpback whales, ospreys, striped bass, Alaska pollock, and bluefin tuna, to name a few. Forage fish are key to America’s fishing economy, supporting it directly when sold as raw material or bait, and indirectly as prey for other marine species.
Recognizing forage fish’ importance to coastal ecosystems and economies, the TRCP has been engaged inthe push for better forage fish management; including supporting the bipartisan introduction of the Forage Fish Conservation Act in the House and Senate in 2021. But the act had remained in limbo since.
Last week, the bipartisanForage Fish Conservation Act was reintroduced in the House by Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Brian Mast (R-FL). This legislation seeks to fill existing gaps in forage fish management by building on the achievements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which has been vital in combating overfishing and preserving fish stocks for anglers over the past five decades.
This legislation would improve federal fishery management by requiring managers to evaluate the importance of forage fish to the ecosystem and the diet needs of predators.
The bill aims to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act to account for the ecological role of forage fish, moving beyond traditional single-species management to include considerations of ecosystem impacts. This legislation would improve our federal fishery management framework by requiring managers to weigh the impacts of forage fisheries expansion on the ecosystem and evaluate the importance of such forage fish to the ecosystem and the diet needs of predator species.
“Safeguarding fish stocks from further decline is critical to protecting marine ecosystems and strengthening coastal economies,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) in a news release. “This legislation’s science-based conservation framework for forage fish will both help promote sustainable fisheries and preserve marine wildlife for the enjoyment of future generations.”
Shad and river herring in particular once supported some of the largest commercial and recreational fisheries along the Atlantic coast. However, habitat loss due to dam construction and stock depletion from overfishing have caused herring and shad landings to plummet by 96 percent since 1950.
Economic impacts from recreational angling support nearly 700,000 jobs across the United States. Recreational fishing also generates $138 billion in sales impacts, $45.1 billion in income, and $74.9 billion in value-added impacts annually. The sustainability of our recreational angling economy rests on the health of fish populations on the water. Without thriving forage fish populations, the fish we love to catch won’t have enough to eat.
“This is important and bipartisan sustainability legislation that will help protect our coastal health, environment, and economy,” said Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) in the release.
This act would ensure that consistent, science-based conservation measures are applied by each regional fishery management council, addressing gaps in current management practices that have led to forage fish overharvest in recent decades, which undermines recreational and commercial fishery productivity. This common-sense, good-governance approach ensures managers responsibly consider the impacts of new commercial harvests on critical ecosystem components, aiming to proactively prevent costly resource failures.
To improve the conservation of forage fish and strengthen the marine ecosystem, the legislation addresses key needs, including:
- Requires the Secretary of Commerce to develop a science-based definition for forage fish in federal waters, with advice from the fisheries councils;
- Assesses the impact a new commercial forage fish fishery could have on existing fisheries, fishing communities, and the marine ecosystem prior to the fishery being authorized;
- Accounts for predator needs in existing management plans for forage fish;
- Specifies that managers consider forage fish when establishing research priorities;
- Ensures scientific advice sought by fishery managers includes recommendations for forage fish;
- Conserves and manages river herring and shad in the ocean; and
- Preserves state management of forage fish fisheries that occur within their jurisdiction.
Boosting forage fish populations will enhance sportfish and fishing opportunities. By implementing the Forage Fish Conservation Act, we can improve management strategies and ensure that anglers benefit from thriving coastal ecosystems and economies for generations to come.
Do you have any thoughts on this post?
by: Ryan Lockwood
posted in: Forage Fish
September 19, 2024
In The Arena: Dr. Bryan Watts
TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.
Bryan Watts
Hometown: Williamsburg, Virginia
Occupation: Professor and director of the Center for Conservation Biology, College of William & Mary
Conservation credentials: Dr. Watts leads multi-year research efforts on many avian species, including a project tracking long-term osprey nesting success in the Chesapeake Bay. He also founded his college’s Center for Conservation Biology and has designed and conducted more than 1,000 research projects related to birds found throughout the Western Hemisphere and particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Dr. Bryan Watts studies a wide range of avian issues, from waterbirds on barrier island beaches and bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay to the effects of human-caused stressors on bird species in coastal regions. His ongoing research of osprey reproductive success in the Chesapeake recently has gotten a lot of attention. In 2023 and 2024 his data have shown a significant decline in nesting success for ospreys located in saltwater areas, which he attributes to a lack of menhaden – a critically important forage fish – for food. This apparent lack of menhaden (also known as bunker or pogies), which TRCP and partners have sounded the alarm on for years due to similar negative effects on striped bass and other sportfish that rely on them, has been difficult to demonstrate with hard data due to Virginia’s continued unwillingness to fund a study on local menhaden populations in the Bay. Watts is a Mitchell A. Byrd Research Professor of Conservation Biology with a PhD in ecology from the University of Georgia and 40-plus years of research experience. But long before he ever became an ecological scientist, he was just a kid out in the woods, hunting, fishing, and exploring with the Boy Scouts.
Here is his story.
I was in the woods with my family before I could walk. When I was five, I started to attend Boy Scouts (my father was Scoutmaster). I was introduced to hunting and fishing by other scouts and Scoutmasters. By the time I was 12, I was spending most of my time in the woods hunting, fishing, trapping, digging ginseng, picking berries, and birding. I was fortunate to spend all of my formative years in the woods surrounded by the natural world. Those times would shape my life’s path.
I have had hundreds of great times in the field in multiple countries, but one that stands out is a float trip on the Greenbrier River in West Virginia. I was 14 and spent two days, along with six other boys and Edsel Whaling, a U.S. Marine Veteran and prominent Scout leader, out on the river. We floated about 30 miles, fishing for smallmouth bass. We slept under an overhang along the river. We cooked bass over a fire and used the heads to catch crayfish in the shallows and cooked them also, in a tin can over the fire. That experience has been hard to beat.
“The smell and sounds of the woods and the feel of the air make me feel like I am home.
If I could hunt or fish anywhere, I would be back along the rivers and high streams of West Virginia, fishing for smallmouth bass or brook trout. There is a familiarity there that makes me feel like I belong. The smell and sounds of the woods and the feel of the air make me feel like I am home.
I have been a professional conservation biologist for 40 years. I have worked on hundreds of conservation projects addressing many species and many problems. One recent project has investigated the causes of poor breeding performance in Chesapeake Bay osprey. My Center has worked with osprey since 1970. Over the past 20 years, we have become increasingly concerned about the role of menhaden availability in osprey nesting success in the main stem of the Bay. Like many conservation problems, we need to seek a balance between the needs of industry and the ecosystem. I am confident that we can find such a balance.
I am most proud of the fact that as a community of American outdoorsmen and women, we care about what happens to different species. I have never met a true outdoorsman who did not genuinely care about the welfare of a species. Just knowing that we as a community and society are working toward the welfare of other species really enhances the experience of being outdoors.
The largest conservation challenge that we face in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain is habitat loss. Continued expansion of the urban footprint comes at the expense of natural habitats that many of our most vulnerable species depend on. We are fortunate to have large tracts of unspoiled land owned by government agencies, NGOs, and private individuals. We need to work toward expanding the green infrastructure to protect habitat for future generations. The hunting and fishing community has been one of the strongest supporters of this effort.
We have a responsibility to pass on the natural environment that we have enjoyed to future generations. Conservation is an all-hands-on-deck activity. If we do not all work together to restore and protect the species we have now, and the habitats they depend on, we will not have them tomorrow.
Everyone who enjoys hunting and fishing and being outdoors understands that we cannot take the natural world for granted. Places and species are treasures to be safeguarded across generations. There is a peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that we have done what we can do to pass these places along.
by: Ryan Lockwood
posted in: Forage Fish
August 13, 2024
In the Arena: Capt. Tyler Nonn
TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.
Tyler Nonn
Hometown: Cape Charles, Virginia
Occupation: Fishing guide and owner/operator of Tidewater Charters
Conservation credentials: Nonn can be counted on to be vocal about menhaden conservation at meetings of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, in TRCP-led advocacy pushes, and other Chesapeake Bay conservation issues.
Capt. Tyler Nonn runs Tidewater Charters, a fly fishing and light tackle angling operation in the Chesapeake Bay that gets clients onto striped bass, redfish, speckled trout, and cobia. He offers a critical captain’s perspective on the importance of healthy menhaden populations when decision-makers are considering policy decisions. Nonn, a Simms ambassador who winters in the Florida Keys to target sportfish dependent on a healthy Everglades ecosystem, has been featured in The Venturing Angler and Flylords Mag.
Here is his story.
Growing up as a kid in the Upper Chesapeake Bay, I had two avenues to fish all the time. My family’s farm had a small pond on it and just as I was getting old enough to really appreciate good fishing, the moratorium on striped bass was first lifted. Upper Bay seasons were created that allowed me and many other anglers to enjoy the eruption of giant fish on the shallow flats and rivers creating some of the best fishing you could ask for. So between ponds, phenomenal Bay fishing, and crabbing with my father and friends the outdoors consumed me and all my time.
“I still come back to the Chesapeake… because chasing the inshore species that call this place home is my passion.”
Probably my most memorable outdoor experience was working in Alaska through the summers of my early 20s. Coming from the East Coast, it was very different and exciting to learn completely new techniques and to apply them to a fishery far from anything I had ever experienced.
I have been fortunate to travel and fish in a lot of places in this country and in several others. But I still come back to the Chesapeake not only because my business is here, but because chasing the inshore species that call this place home is my passion. Giant striped bass, redfish, cobia, speckled trout, and other species make it nearly a year-round fishery.
Like everywhere the Bay has plenty of problems. The biggest conservation challenge we have here, in my opinion, is the division or separation within the user groups of our natural resources. I feel like this is common in many places. In the end everyone wants more fish in one way or another, but the separation of user groups makes fisheries issues very politically charged, and more often than not really difficult to get anything positive accomplished.
I watch the intense harvest of “bunker,” or Atlantic menhaden, most of the year in the lower portions of the Bay and near coastal waters. As far as the impact on sportfishing goes, when the bait is present it completely changes the landscape of fishing. Fish hold consistently in areas when bait like menhaden are abundant. Then as it diminishes fish move out of areas nearly instantly. Even the differences in fishing conditions from Virginia to Maryland portions of the Bay are incredibly different, even sometimes just a few miles apart.
Conservation directly impacts my entire life and everything in it. Without fish and the opportunity to catch them, I wouldn’t have my business – or more importantly, fuel to feed my lifelong passion. It’s important for myself and everyone to be involved in conservation because it’s our legacy as anglers. I really enjoy fishing, to say the least, and I want others to be able to have the same experiences that I have been able to have, or even better in the future.
“Everyone should have the future of our fisheries in mind.”
Just like generations before us, and the generations to come, everyone should have the future of our fisheries in mind. Fishermen are some of the greatest conservationists and supporters of wildlife, and hunters as well. This will no doubt be our saving grace as time marches on and people continue to want to enjoy the outdoors.
Photo credits: Tyler Nonn
by: Ryan Lockwood
posted in: Forage Fish
August 7, 2024
Workgroup Established to Consider Chesapeake Bay Menhaden Regulations
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission workgroup will eye precautionary, Bay-specific menhaden fishery management measures to protect predators like ospreys and striped bass
The Menhaden Management Board (MMB) of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted yesterday to establish a workgroup to consider options for precautionary management of the Chesapeake Bay industrial menhaden fishery, including time and area closures, to account for seabird and fish diet needs at critical points in their life cycles. The workgroup will be organized over the coming weeks and will start the process of thinking through what future management measures for the Bay menhaden fishery might look like, to lower the pressure that ospreys and other menhaden predators are facing in one of America’s most important estuaries.
Menhaden are baitfish that play an essential role in marine food webs, providing a vital food source for not only ospreys, but many larger species like striped bass, redfish, whales, dolphins, and seabirds.
The motion to establish a workgroup, which was unanimously supported by the MMB, was put forward by the Maryland ASMFC delegation’s Allison Colden, who is also Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The group should begin to answer some of the questions that conservation groups have had for years about the menhaden fishery’s impact on the Bay ecosystem, and will propose potential sustainable solutions for the ASMFC to deliberate.
“We’re seeing some major ecological red flags in the Chesapeake Bay,” said Allison Colden, CBF Maryland executive director. “From struggling osprey populations to dismal menhaden bait landings, it’s clear that additional precautions are needed.”
Chesapeake Bay residents and scientists have been sounding the alarm about a lack of menhaden in the Bay leading to lower osprey chick-rearing success. This led to the MMB inviting the U.S. Geological Survey to make a presentation on Aug. 6 to inform the Board about the status of osprey in the Chesapeake Bay, and the problems these birds of prey are currently facing. Data shows that ospreysin some parts of the Bay are particularly reliant on oil-rich menhaden as food for their young, especially in the spring and summer months during chick-rearing season when male ospreys must bring in extra food to feed their mate and offspring. In recent years, the numbers have shown that ospreys in parts of the Bay are unsuccessful in raising enough young each year to sustain stablelong-term populations, due in part to a lack of food availability for young chicks.
While the Atlantic menhaden fishery is already managed to account for the diet needs of multiple fish predators, such as striped bass and bluefish, to leave enough forage in the water for those fish to eat, osprey are not explicitly included in that management structure despite their clear reliance on menhaden in their diets. Updated stock assessments will be published in fall 2025, which will essentially model how menhaden have been interacting with theAtlantic ecosystem in recent years, and will help managers set appropriate harvest quotas in future fishing seasons. Unfortunately, those assessment calculations are not detailed enough to determine how the menhaden fishery is impacting the ecosystem in specific zones, such as within the Chesapeake Bay region, where harvest is concentrated.
“Setting specific regulations tailored to regional differences in harvest, based on what we know now, is a way to manage the menhaden fishery in a precautionary manner until the stock assessment science can catch up,” said Jaclyn Higgins, forage fish program manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “We have a wide range of longstanding seabird data that has been collected for decades, which shows us the ebb and flow of osprey populations along the Atlantic. We know that osprey chicks aren’t getting enough to eat in the Chesapeake, and we know they are reliant on menhaden in that important chick-rearing timeframe.”
Higgins says that establishing regulations that leave more menhaden in the water in the Bay at critical times, based on osprey needs and the needs of other Bay predators, is an ideal way to expand upon the ecosystem-based management framework that the ASMFC already uses to manage this iconic forage fish.
“The TRCP is excited to support this movement towards further refining the ecosystem-based management of the Atlantic menhaden fishery,” Higgins said. “Refining the spatial components of the ASMFC’s menhaden management structure will further improve the sustainability of this fishery, and will allow for more predators to have sufficient access to this critical forage species into the future.”
The workgroup expects to present their findings to the MMB at its October 2024 meeting.
For more information about the key role menhaden and other forage fish play in marine ecosystems, visit TRCP’s forage fish recovery page.
Banner image of osprey with menhaden courtesy Chesapeake Bay Program
by: Ryan Lockwood
posted in: Forage Fish
July 11, 2024
Fishing’s Most Wanted: Catch & Eat These Tasty Invasives
Support sustainable native fisheries by targeting, removing, and cooking up these four delicious, invasive fish species
Many aquatic invasive species (AIS) are causing harm to American fisheries and affecting recreational fishing, from flora like hydrilla and hyacinth to fauna like zebra mussels and Asian carp. For this reason, TRCP and its partners convened an AIS commission in 2022. But not all AIS issues can be targeted by anglers, and fewer still are good to eat. We narrowed the list to TRCP’s top four AIS species for anglers because they are fun to catch and good to eat, and our fisheries benefit when we remove them.
If you decide to pursue any of these fish, search for the competitions set up to incentivize their removals. And even if you elect not to eat them, if you ever catch them in locations where they are considered problematic and are not protected, remember that it’s best to not return them to the water.
Northern Snakehead
Take some regular old freshwater fish and Frankenstein it – giving it the head and elongated body of a serpent, the teeth of a wolf, and the abilities to wriggle over land and survive out of water for more than a day – and you have yourself a northern snakehead. Native to China, Russia, and the Korean Peninsula, these bizarre, air-breathing fish probably became established in the U.S. after aquarium owners and others intentionally released unwanted specimens into local waterways. These aggressive top predators can outcompete native fish for food, with adults consuming smaller fish, crustaceans, reptiles, amphibians, and even some birds. Anglers prize them for their explosive strikes and delicious filets. While now established in the Mid-Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay regions, as well as in Arkansas (and recently spreading from there to the Mississippi River), they’ve also been detected in other states like California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, but have no established populations there.
- Size: Typically, mature specimens are in the 18- to 30-inch range, but can reach over 3 ft. in length and more than 20 lbs.
- Where to Target: The Potomac River drainage and other portions of Virginia and Washington, D.C., as well as in Maryland; Arkansas, New York, and Pennsylvania also offer limited opportunities
- How to Catch: Focus on slow-moving or stagnant freshwater streams, rivers, or ponds with aquatic vegetation present, and fish for them as you would for largemouth and smallmouth bass, using spinners, frogs, buzzbaits, bladed jigs, and topwater lures; bowfishing can also be used to harvest these fish
- Best Times: Early April through early October; live bait can also be used for fishing during cooler fall and winter periods
- How to Prepare: The snakehead’s mild, flaky-but-firm, low-fat flesh is versatile and ideal for pan-searing, grilling, frying, smoking, or stews, with little seasoning required; just be sure to remove the skin before cooking
Blue Catfish
While a native species in the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Rio Grande river basins, blue catfish were introduced in the Chesapeake Bay area in the 1970s. As an apex predator that can thrive even in brackish waters and grow to more than 100 pounds, their population eventually exploded and they are now wreaking havoc on local ecosystems by eating a wide range of important native species in the Bay region, including menhaden, herring, striped bass, and blue crabs. Blue catfish can be found even far up Nanticoke River tributaries in Delaware, and are present in many Southeastern states, where they are considered more naturalized and populations have not exploded like they have in the Mid-Atlantic. Even if blue cats are native where you live, they’re still worth targeting for their sheer potential size and deliciously mild, firm flesh. There’s so good to eat, in fact, that a commercial industry now targets them in the Chesapeake Bay region to supply local restaurants and markets.
- Size: Up to more than 6 feet and 100+ lbs.; avoid eating fish over 30″ long
- Where to Target: Freshwater and brackish Chesapeake Bay river systems and tributaries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Delaware; click the state links to see fish consumption advisories to avoid eating these and other fish from areas with high contaminant levels in the water
- How to Catch: Blue cats will eat anything, are fairly easy to catch, and a good choice for targeting with kids or inexperienced anglers, fishing near the bottom using fresh cut baits like shrimp, chicken liver, or fish, or live bait for larger catfish; trot lines can also be used if the goal is simply to catch as many fish as possible
- Best Times: Can be fished year-round, with the spring months being particularly good; in the winter they are biting when not much else is, mainly in the warmer daytime periods; nighttime and low-light conditions are best in warmer summer months, and give anglers quarry to pursue to give striped bass a breather
- How to Prepare: Blackened, pan-seared, deep fried, broiled or grilled (catfish filets hold up remarkably well on a grill); be sure to remove the skin before cooking
Lionfish
An attractive, audacious, and venomous marine species native to Indo-Pacific coral reefs, lionfish were first detected in U.S. waters off Florida roughly 40 years ago. It’s thought that people also inexplicably have released them from home aquariums into the Atlantic Ocean multiple times since. (A good reminder that people should never release any pets into the wild!) They have now unfortunately spread throughout the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean from New England to Texas and the Bahamas to the Greater Antilles. Their heaviest concentrations are in Florida, the Keys, and most Caribbean islands, with detections even having occurred in the saltwater portions of the Everglades – as if South Florida and the Everglades didn’t have enough invasive species problems to deal with already. Lionfish have become a serious problem because they gorge on dozens of species of juvenile reef fish that would ultimately grow to be bigger fish we like to catch. They can eat prey more than half their own length; have no real predators in the Western Hemisphere; and compete for food with important sportfish like snapper and grouper. Despite having venomous spines (which are painful, but not deadly), the flesh is perfectly safe to eat.
- Size: Up to 15 inches or more and about 2.5 lbs.
- Where to Target: Artificial or natural reefs and structure (the deeper, the better) off Florida and Alabama; internationally, in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas
- How to Catch: Spearfishing (pole spears or Hawaiian slings) using scuba or snorkeling gear; they are surprisingly easy to harvest, due to a lack of predators that makes them unlikely to evade pursuit
- Best Times: Any time of year, ideally near dawn and dusk
- How to Prepare: They are in the same family as Pacific Coast rockfish, which are prized for their meat; their mild, buttery filets have been compared to grouper or mahi-mahi
Yellowstone Lake Trout
Though most coveted trout species are actually considered invasive in at least parts of the U.S., they have long been established and often support economically important fisheries. However, some trout species in some areas are considered more destructive than valuable, so fisheries managers are working to eradicate them. The Yellowstone National Park region is home to non-native rainbows, browns, and brookies, but it’s the lake trout that are a problem. Both lake trout and native cutthroat trout are found in Yellowstone Lake, the largest high-elevation lake in North America, with lake trout both preying on and competing with cutthroats. A single lake trout can eat dozens of cutthroat trout every year, and this loss of the native fish is contributing to declines in many other wildlife species. In Yellowstone Lake, park regulations actually require anglers to keep or at least dispatch all lake trout they land. Added good news is that you’ll probably also be able to catch (and release) some big cutthroats when you’re out there.
- Size: Around 20 inches typically, but up to 36 inches and nearly 40 pounds in this region
- Where to Target: Yellowstone Lake, WY; noted spots include Carrington Island by boat or shore fishing in the Bridge Bay and West Thumb areas
- How to Catch: Fly fishing by stripping a streamer with a baitfish pattern, or gear angling using deep-diving lures or vertical jigging in deeper water; guided fishing tours and boat rentals are available
- Best Times: Legal in the park from Memorial Day weekend until early November, but fall is the best time, when lake trout move into the shallows to spawn
- How to Prepare: High in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, they can be pan-fried or baked; they also cook nicely over an open fire in a grill basket (bring some butter and lemons)
What We’re Doing About AIS
TRCP recently worked with Yamaha Rightwaters, YETI, the American Sportfishing Association, Bass Pro Shops, and other partners on an AIS commission to address the need for better prevention and mitigation of aquatic invasive species. The commission’s final recommendations, finalized in 2023, included the need to modernize federal law and policy, increase targeted funding, maintain fishing access, and increase public education. See the full Aquatic Invasive Species Commission report here.
A special thanks to Noah Bressman, an assistant professor and AIS expert at Salisbury University, for helping confirm information for this blog, and for providing the snakehead photo in the banner image.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
CHEERS TO CONSERVATION
Theodore Roosevelt’s experiences hunting and fishing certainly fueled his passion for conservation, but it seems that a passion for coffee may have powered his mornings. In fact, Roosevelt’s son once said that his father’s coffee cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub.” TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to bring together his two loves: a strong morning brew and a dedication to conservation. With your purchase, you’ll not only enjoy waking up to the rich aroma of this bolder roast—you’ll be supporting the important work of preserving hunting and fishing opportunities for all.
$4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue their efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.