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A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 21 OctOber 2017

Scientists: Big changes coming for 1 of most important fish

By PATRICK WHITTLE but in terms of "how we can vesters of the fish said cut-
Associated Press leave enough menhaden ting the amount of menha-
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — in the water for the preda- den they take wouldn't be
Changes in the way some tory species that rely on an evidence-based move.
small fish are managed them," Berger said. Scientific stock assessments
could have major implica- An arm of the commission is have shown that menha-
tions for the ocean ecosys- bringing the subject up for den are not being over-
tem and marine industries a key vote on Nov. 13 in Lin- fished, said Ben Landry, a
on the East Coast, accord- thicum, Maryland. It's ac- spokesman for Houston-
ing to conservationists, fish- cepting public comments based Omega Protein,
ing groups and scientists. on the subject until Oct. 24 which is the largest har-
Interstate regulators are and has received about vester of menhaden in the
considering altering the 11,000 so far. Atlantic.
way they manage menha- The proposal has galva- "That's what your scientists
den to better account for nized environmentalists are spending all this time
its role as one of the most Frozen and salted menhaden sit in a barrel at a lobster bait and some scientists, who doing. It's kind of a slap in
important fish in the sea. warehouse, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Portland, Maine. say the commission should the face to the harvesters,"
The schooling fish makes up Associated Press do everything in its power Landry said.
a key piece of the Atlantic to protect the fish. Menhaden are fished com-
Ocean's food web, as im- The Atlantic States Marine could also impact the size "There's a lot of science that mercially up and down the
portant prey for whales, Fisheries Commission is con- and distribution of the fish- says these fish are very im- East Coast, and are also
seabirds and large fish. sidering new management ing fleet, as well as the kind portant to the health of the used as bait in important
Menhaden is also used in tools crafted with an eye of gear that is used, said ocean," said Ellen Pikitch, fisheries, including those for
products such as aquacul- toward menhaden's key Tina Berger, a spokeswom- a marine fisheries scientist lobster.
ture feed and fish oil sup- environmental role, which an for the Atlantic States. with Stony Brook University They are also well known
plements. could involve reducing the The possibility of changing in New York. to recreational fishermen,
The U.S. commercial fisher- amount of the fish that can how menhaden are man- "There's every reason to who call them "pogy" and
men catch more than a bil- be caught by commercial aged reflects a movement move forward right now, "bunker" and use them to
lion pounds (0.45 billion kilo- fishermen. to begin looking at them and not wait." catch larger fish like striped
grams) of the fish per year. The regulation changes not just as a single species, But some commercial har- bass and bluefish.q
Searchers in Mexico find, but release, vaquita porpoise calf

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Re- calf's capture."The successful ed we could not keep the
searchers trying to catch rescue made conservation vaquita in human care, we
and enclose the last survivors history and demonstrates have demonstrated that we
of the vaquita porpoise spe- that the goal of VaquitaCPR are able to locate and cap-
cies captured a calf but re- is feasible," said Environment ture a vaquita."
leased it because it was too Secretary Rafael Pacchiano. A photo released by the
young to survive without its "No one has ever captured Environment Department
mother. and cared for a vaquita por- showed the calf swimming in
Mexico's Environment De- poise, even for a brief period a pen surrounded by team
partment said veterinarians of time. This is an exciting members. The statement did
determined the calf was moment and as a result, I am not say how long it was in
In this July 8, 2017 file photo, a young woman with the World too young and experts said confident we can indeed captivity.
Wildlife Fund carries a papier mache replica of the critically
endangered porpoise known as the vaquita marina, during an it was showing signs of stress save the vaquita marina The U.S. Navy trained dol-
event in front of the National Palace in Mexico City calling on after capture. The experts from extinction." phins to help find vaquitas
the Mexican government to take additional steps to protect with Mexican-led interna- Lorenzo Rojas, the lead sci- and research boats are
the world's smallest marine mammal. tional effort known as Vaqui- entist on the effort, said searching their habitat, the
Associated Press taCPR still saw hope in the "while we were disappoint- Gulf of California.q