Whether you call it pogy, bunker or menhaden, this baitfish ubiquitous to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is again pitting commercial fishermen against recreational anglers. As a forage species, menhaden are important to the health of game fish populations and marine ecosystems. They are also the basis for a commercial harvest that generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually producing products such as Omega-3 dietary supplements and food for pets and aquaculture.
Gulf Menhaden Commercial Buffer Zone
In the Gulf, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC) has proposed reducing the existing half-mile buffer for commercial menhaden fishing to a quarter mile from the coast in most areas. This half-mile buffer zone was enacted as part of a compromise between stakeholders in 2024 to protect nearshore habitat and limit bycatch of non-target species, including game fish that support the state’s $3.1 billion recreational fishing industry.
Several groups including the Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana (CCA-Louisiana), the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) are calling on recreational anglers to make their voices heard during the LWFC public comment period, which closes Thursday, Nov. 6. ASA has made available a form email to easily express opposition to the buffer zone reduction on its Action Center page.
According to a TRCP report on a recently completed independent study of bycatch in the Louisiana commercial pogy fishery, two companies killed almost 150 million non-target species in a year, including 30,000 red drum and hundreds of thousands of other game fish like speckled trout, black drum, jack crevalle, and more than 25 million sand trout. The study showed that by-catch of some species—including redfish—increased with proximity to the shoreline.
The LWFC will vote on the reduced buffer zone at its Nov. 6 meeting in Baton Rouge. Recreational anglers are encouraged to attend.
•Speak out on Gulf Menhaden through ASA’s Action Center HERE.
Atlantic Menhaden Management
In the Atlantic, advocates for recreational fishing were disappointed in a smaller than recommended quota cut for commercial menhaden harvest at a recent Atlantic States Marine Fisheries (ASMFC) meeting in Delaware. Menhaden are a crucial forage species for many game fish, particularly for a rebuilding striped bass population.
“For Atlantic menhaden, the board cut quota but didn’t even cut harvest,” said ASA Atlantic Fisheries Policy Director Mike Waine. “The Striped Bass Board has continuously cut harvest in the striped bass recreational fishery to keep fishing mortality below the target to achieve striped bass rebuilding and yet when faced with the same decision on menhaden, they opted not to. It’s difficult to say that ASMFC is adhering to its own ecosystem-based fishery management directive for Atlantic menhaden with such conflicting actions.”
ASMFC’s Menhaden Management Board implemented a 20 percent cut to the Atlantic commercial menhaden harvest, when peer-reviewed science recommended a 54 percent quota cut, according to an ASA press release. The 20 percent quota reduction will likely not even result in reduced harvest. The new quota of 186,840 metric tons is higher than 2024 actual landings of 186,155 metric tons.
The call for commercial quota reduction is the result of years of mismanagement of the fishery, according to the American Saltwater Guides Association. The organization cried foul in early October in a report detailing a significant error in the Atlantic menhaden stock assessment process. The error involved a large underestimation of a natural mortality figure used to assess the Atlantic menhaden stock for years. “The biomass level is smaller than assumed, and fishing mortality is higher than allowed,” reads the report. “In the most blunt terms possible, there are fewer menhaden in the Atlantic than we thought, and we are killing way too many of them.”
