Eric Burnley's recent Outdoors column ("And the beat goes on," Jan. 27) is littered with errors and misstatements on menhaden.
Mr. Burnley gets several key facts wrong about menhaden management, while misrepresenting the positions of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition and its members.
Mr. Burnley states that Virginia has "sued the federal government" over the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's November decision to raise the coastwide Atlantic menhaden quota by only 8 percent. This is incorrect; Virginia did not sue the federal government.
Instead, it used the ASMFC's established appeals process to challenge the commission's decision.
More importantly, Mr. Burnley gets wrong the reasons for Virginia's appeal. He writes, "instead of being grateful that their menhaden quota was increased by 8 percent and not cut, they claim the status of the stock should allow the menhaden industry an increase in their landings."
This is not what the ASMFC decided in November. While the commission did raise the coastwide quota by 8 percent, this increase was not distributed evenly, or, in the opinion of Virginia, fairly.
Traditionally, fisheries managers allocate quota on the basis of historical landings. However, the ASMFC broke with that practice in November, allocating menhaden quota to states with no real history of menhaden fishing or active menhaden fisheries. As a result of this decision, while most states will see significant increases in their menhaden allocations, Virginia is likely to see a decrease, despite an overall increase in the coastwide quota. This likely decrease is the basis for Virginia's appeal.
Mr. Burnley also misstates the position of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition, which represents many of the menhaden fishing businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, including in Virginia. He states that the coalition "wanted an increase to 314 [sic] metric tons, which they say poses only a minimal risk of overfishing." The coalition never formally advocated for the quota to be set at 314,000 metric tons. Rather, it publicly stated that, according to the best available science on menhaden, the quota could have been set as high as 314,000 metric tons without damaging the long-term health of the stock.
Finally, Mr. Burnley stated that one of the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition's Virginia members, Omega Protein, has made political donations to "every member" of the Virginia General Assembly, "regardless of party." This is also incorrect.
In the 2016-17 election cycles, Omega Protein made donations to several candidates and PACs, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. But its $128,000 in donations are well below contributions made by environmental groups like the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters, and not among the top 100 donors for that period.
Robert Vanasse
Menhaden Fisheries Coalition
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