Thank you to everyone who sent a message to help the menhaden.
My previous post outlined some of the issues and on November 9th, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission held their meeting in Boston. By a vote of 14 to 3, the ASMFC approved a new addendum to cut the annual harvest limit on the Atlantic Menhaden by 37%. It's a great first step and I'm sure the 91,949 comments they received (overwhelming majority for harvest reduction) helped make the difference. It's actually a historic moment since it's the first time ever that the commission voted for the reduction in menhaden harvest.
I think we as a collective community of sport fishermen/women should be proud to finally make a change to this problem. This is definitely not the end to this issue, but definitely big step in the right direction.
The commission now has to create and vote on a plan to implement the new rules which should become effective in May of 2013.
For more information check out the ASMFC page and/or the CCA news page.
This is great news Rob! Its good to feel like I might have helped.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! Everyone who sent in a comment should feel like they helped. It's a great feeling!
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