The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Menhaden Management Board postponed a decision on Virginia’s compliance with the latest menhaden harvest cap on the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery until its February meeting. Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Senior Regional Ecosystem Scientist Chris Moore released the following statement.
“Omega Protein continues to undertake a risky gamble with the health of the Bay’s menhaden population, undermining ASMFC’s efforts to ensure vibrant fish populations and healthy fisheries all along the Atlantic Coast. Omega should use this opportunity to work with Virginia to ensure compliance with the coastwide management plan for Atlantic Menhaden. In recent years the company’s total catch in the Bay has been well below the ASMFC’s new quota. Respecting the revised Bay cap will help ensure a healthier Chesapeake Bay.
“Lobbying by Omega ensured that Virginia’s General Assembly didn’t pass legislation last session that included modest updates to the harvest quota for the Chesapeake Bay menhaden reduction fishery. Next session legislators must pass a bill to adopt these modest changes to ensure Virginia maintains a strong partnership with other states on coastwide fisheries management.”
Many commercial fishermen, and many other businesses in this country, have a serious problem. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians IN THE GOVERNMENT. Our government exerts controls from many different areas, and they do not agree, so that the businesses so often sometimes even have no idea what real compliance is. Here, apparently a few agencies have input and set regulations so that the menhaden population thrives while being properly fished. That’s great. The problem in so many businesses occurs when there is a fluctuation in the business and the government is too slow to react. Here, it sounds as though part of the government, and Omega are saying that the fish are thriving but moved into the bay. the regulations say Omega can have the menhaden but only if caught outside the bay, where the fish don’t live right now. So in order to comply, the fish thrive too much and overpopulate the bay, and Omega goes out of business ?
So the government has several different groups that conducts surveys, and does research, and thinks and thinks and thinks. Swell.
Let’s compare this to a restaurant. Let’s say Kelly’s Pub is on The Town Line of Cape Charles and Cheriton. A fire breaks out. Should Cheriton or Cape Charles F.D. put it out ? If we leave it to the feds, and our legislature, and all parties involved in making the decision, Kelly’s is burned to the ground and a new place is built over it’s ashes long before the gov. makes a decision. All we can say is, sorry Gene ?
Isn’t the real question, why don’t the ignorant chiefs get out of the way and let someone who works with the industry properly immediately react with the best rapid information and go forward so the gov and the industry comply with each other ? If a mistake is made then recorrect it as soon as possible ? Isn’t that what all businesses do ?
Isn’t this actually the precise definition of the swamp that so many of us think needs to be eliminated ?
In my not so humble opinion…….