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U.S. NEWS Friday 1 November 2019
Commission: Virginia let company defy fishing limits in bay

By BEN FINLEY more than the commission the ASMFC gave into pres-
Associated Press allows. sure from special interests."
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Fish- Omega protein said in a Chris Moore, a scientist
ing regulators accused statement Thursday that it with the Chesapeake Bay
Virginia on Thursday of al- tried to fish outside of the Foundation, said no one
lowing a company that bay. But it said that poor disputes that the menha-
makes fish-oil supplements weather and higher vol- den population is healthy
to exceed catch limits on a umes of menhaden inside coastwide. But he said es-
fish that's an important link the Chesapeake led to timates for the bay are in-
in the Chesapeake Bay's higher harvests there. adequate, which is why
food chain. The company also pointed the commission took the
The Atlantic States Marine to the commission's most precaution of lowering the
Fisheries Commission voted recent stock assessment, harvest cap.
to find Virginia out of com- which said menhaden Moore added that Omega This Oct. 15, 2004 file photo shows a school of menhaden on
pliance because the state aren't being overfished. Protein lobbied lawmakers the coast of Virginia Beach, Va. Fishing regulators say Virginia
allowed a Canadian-owned company that makes fish-oil sup-
didn't enact a new harvest Richard Stuart, a Repub- to defy the catch limit. Ac- plements to go well beyond catch limits of the fish set for the
cap for a fish that's called lican state senator who cording to the Virginia Pub- Chesapeake Bay.
menhaden. The species supports Omega, said the lic Access Project, Omega Associated Press
serves as food in the bay company provides nearly Protein has made nearly
for large predators that in- 300 jobs and pumps millions $600,000 in political dona- fisheries," Moore said. a recommendation by
clude striped bass, bottle- into the economy. tions in the state over the The Secretary of Com- the commission involving
nose dolphins and hump- "If I saw one shred of evi- years. merce has 30 days to re- New Jersey. The ASMFC
back whales. dence that Omega was "For its own profit Omega view the commission's rul- had found New Jersey to
The commission's vote es- overfishing, I'd be the first Protein has now tarnished ing on Virginia. be out of compliance on
calates a simmering con- one to vote to cut the Virginia's reputation as a In 2017, Commerce Secre- proposed limits for summer
flict in Virginia that involves catch," Stuart said. "I think responsible steward of its tary Wilbur Ross overruled flounder.q
only one company, Ome-
ga Protein, which defied
the commission's catch
limit.
Environmental groups have
called into question how
one corporation can have
so much influence on state
policy. But the company
and lawmakers who sup-
port it say the catch limit is
unfair and lacks scientific
justification.
The Trump Administration
may get involved. The
commission said it will ask
the U.S. Secretary of Com-
merce to intervene, a re-
quest that hasn't always
been reciprocated by the
current administration.
Menhaden are an oily, sil-
ver-colored fish that swim in
schools inside and outside
the nation's largest estuary.
Omega Protein has been
harvesting them for de-
cades, producing products
like fishmeal and omega-3
rich fish oil.
In recent years, the com-
mission has reduced men-
haden catch limits over
concerns about the bay's
population, noting that the
Chesapeake is "a nursery
ground for many species."
In 2017, harvest limits were
reduced from about 87,000
metric tons to 51,000 met-
ric tons. But Virginia's leg-
islature didn't enact the
change.
This year, the company
said it hauled in 67,000 met-
ric tons of the fish — or 31%