EP220: Encyclopedia of Menhaden Management

The Menhaden fight grows louder, but unfortunately for the resource, the discussions grow murkier. A massive error in the stock assessment has changed the entire management picture. In this episode, Tony Friedrich, Mario Campo and Jake Hardy break down why the Bay Cap, the coastwide TAC, and the push for reallocation all demand your nuanced attention right now if you care about forage fish, stripers, ospreys, whales, or the future of the fishery. In episode 220, we break down how a corrected natural mortality estimate from a 1960s tagging study helped expose an overharvest problem that has quietly added up to hundreds of millions of pounds. This episode translates the mortality math into plain English and explains why the current management response is still not enough. With additional biological and policy context, it’s hard to deny why a coastal stock issue cannot be solved by shuffling quota from one region to another.