Why Save the Bait?
- Gulf Menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, play a crucial link in the
Gulf of Mexico ’s food chain. These small, but important fish spend their short lives swimming in huge schools filtering algae, the base of the food chain and converting the
plant’s
energy into their oily and highly nutritious flesh.
- Marine wildlife such as dolphins, red drum (redfish), sharks,and pelicans, all rely on menhaden as an essential source of food
- Without Gulf menhaden, the health of the entire ecosystem is put in jeopardy. Despite the existence of other prey species, Gulf menhaden are one of the most important sources of food for predators.
- Gulf Menhaden schools also
filter thousands of
gallons of seawater each minute, eating algea and in the
process improving water quality
The Problem
- Just two companies catch, on average, more than one billion pounds of Gulf menhaden annually. These fish never make it to your local seafood market. Instead, they are "reduced" into industrial products such as fish oil and fishmeal for animal feed and other industrial uses.
-
Current management is based on outdated strategies that emphasis production and profits over sustainability. Only one Gulf state,
Texas
-
Without at-sea observers, it is nearly impossible to guage the amount of unwanted catch, or bycatch. According to the industry's own estimates, they accidently catch and kill 10 million pounds of other sealife every year.
- The Save the Bait Coalition
is asking the
Mississippi Commision on Marine Resources to put common sense management to work for this fishery. Science based caps on annual catch and documentation of the bycatch are needed now to ensure that the fishery remains viable and does not threaten the ecosystem or other economically important fisheries.
