Protect the Menhaden

Primaries end, but activism never rests: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wants your input tonight!

On March 27, TPWD will be considering a bunch of changes to their regulations. Tonight in Austin they'll be holding one of a series of public forums to get input on the changes. The meeting starts at 7pm at TPWD HQ, Commissioners Hearing Room, 4200 Smith School.

One of the changes that's being considered is a catch limit on Gulf Menhaden fishing in Texas Territorial seas. Also known as mossbunker and pogy, these small schooling fish are a major food source for larger predators, but also serve as a filter species, processing out lots of pollutants. TPWD wants to set a catch limit of 31,500,000 lbs a year, which is actually the average annual catch over the last five years. Aaron Viles, campaign director for the Gulf Restoration Network, says there's pretty much universal support for the cap: "When you get Greenpeace and the Recreational Fishing Alliance in the same room, on the same page, on the same issue, that's something."

But there's one major voice of opposition: Omega Protein, the Houston-based fishing firm that actually sails out of Louisiana. They use menhaden for fishmeal and fish oil, and oppose the caps. But there's concern in the scientific community that menhaden are such a pivotal part of the Gulf Coast ecosystem that over-fishing could cause massive damage, and some argue that that's already happened for Atlantic Menhaden in Chesapeake Bay.