Blog #482 Where Ospreys are Starving

Male Osprey landing a beauty, enough to feed the entire family trout, courtesy of Patrick Marshall.

Ospreys of the Cayuga Lake Osprey colony, live in the stunning heart of New York’s Finger Lakes of a terrific about centered on Cayuga Lake may lull us into complacent thinking that all is well in their world. Life for Ospreys near Cayuga is certainly good for our in this inland colony with lots to eat and seeming endless nesting possibilities, but an ecological tragedy is in the making not far away. Osprey chicks are starving and whole colonies collapsing in the Chesapeake Bay region, home of the world’s highest concentration of breeding Ospreys (until recently estimated at 10,000 breeding pairs). The tragedy is caused by a sharp decline of their dietary staple, menhaden, called “the most important fish in the sea” by author H. Bruce Franklin.

Ospreys, striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, whales, and a myriad of other coastal and marine species dependent on menhaden for food are all declining as a direct result of competition with humans for this oily fish we don’t even eat. Humans harvest these sardine-like fish by the millions to grind and manufacture pet food, cosmetics, dietary supplements, feed for fish farms, and fertilizers. Menhaden numbers began declining when they replaced whales for making industrial lubricants in the mid-1870s, and their exploitation is reaching a crisis level.

Migrating school of silvery menhaden, courtesy of the Marine Fish Conservation Network.

Menhaden are a critical link in East Coast’s marine ecosystem, which is already stressed by habitat destruction, climate change, and environmental degradation by microplastics and other pollution. Menhaden perform an essential role by filter-feeding vast amounts of phytoplankton rich in chemical energy produced during photosynthesis and storing it in their bodies. These vital fish are one of the foundations of the east coast’s marine food web, serving as prey and hence fueling animals in higher trophic levels.

Years of overfishing, poor regulation, and mismanagement have taken their toll. A severe blow to the menhaden population came with a misguided five-year agreement in 1988 that allowed local fishermen in Gulf of Maine to intensify their fishing efforts to sell to the Soviets. In 1991 alone 60 million menhaden were offloaded onto a Soviet processing ship for export. This additional fishing pressure, especially on older breeding osprey adults on their summer feeding grounds, significantly reduced their numbers and may have left an insufficient number of eggs and larvae for the North Atlantic menhaden fishery to recover.

Osprey carrying a menhaden with a characteristic black opercular spot, courtesy of Times Democrat.

And, yet, the menhaden harvest continues and has become highly politically charged, especially in Virginia. Bryan Watts, director of William & Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology, has studied the Osprey of the Chesapeake Bay region for decades. Two years ago, Watts found a shocking situation in the lower Bay: of the 167 Osprey nests surveyed only 17 held live chicks; the reproductive rate of 0.47 young per active nest is far below a sustainable rate of 1.15 young per nest per year (US Geologic Survey). This year the numbers are worse. With their main food source dwindling, the great Chesapeake Osprey population has an uncertain future.

With the great schools of menhaden gone, only one company remains in this dying industry, Omega Protein of Reedville, Virginia. Usually fishing off Virginia, Omega started processing menhadens farther north in New Jersey waters this summer, extending the threat to Ospreys living in that state.

The battle rages and time for the menhaden may be running out. Omega argues that menhaden are not suffering from overfishing. Researchers in the Chesapeake like Dr. Watts maintain that overfishing is the chief culprit in the menhaden’s decline but stresses that other factors are also at play in this changing environment. Financial gain and deceitful politics allow Omega to continue purging the waters of this indispensable fish. It is shameful. At fault are the governing boards of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the Virginia legislature, and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission who permit this unsustainable exploitation to continue.

Omega Protein Co. ship “reduction” harvesting menhaden off Virginia, courtesy of LAFB.

Humpback takes a mouthful of menhaden, courtesy of Artie Raslich Photography, specializing in humpbacks off NYC and Long Island (www.artieraslich.com/blog).

The vital menhaden’s dual role of filtering the ocean waters and serving as its prey base is essential. Without this energy-rich fish the animals dependent on it, the Ospreys, whales, fish, and others will disappear. Without their vital plankton filtering, toxic algae will eventually choke the waters of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Join the fight to save the menhaden and the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Call your congressional representative, and request their help stopping the mass “reduction harvesting” menhaden fishing immediately. Thank you.

Eyes to the sky!

Candace

Candace E. Cornell

Salt Point Natural Area

Cayuga Lake Osprey Network

cec222@gmail.com

 

Take Action to Save the Menhaden and Ospreys!

Ban “Reduction Fishing” in American Waters.

Call and write to your senators’ offices today and ask your friends to join you.

Please call and send personal letters to your state’s two U.S. Senators asking them to ban “reduction fishing” in American waters to conserve and protect the menhaden, Ospreys, and all biota living in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/email-me/ 

478 Russell, Washington, DC (202) 224-4451

New York, NY · (212) 688-6262

Albany, NY · (518) 431-0120

Buffalo, NY · (716) 854-9725

Senator Charles E. “Chuck” Schumer

https://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact

322 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510    

(202) 224-6542

Albany, NY · (518) 431-4070

New York, NY · (212) 486-4430

Syracuse, NY · (315) 423-5471

Menhadens swimming with open mouths to filter phytoplankton, courtesy of My Fishing Cape Cod.

Virtually all life on earth thrives directly or indirectly on sunlight because plants use sunlight to make energy. Herbivorous forage fish such as menhaden eat these plants, taking their chemical energy and storing it in their bodies. These prey swim with their large mouths open, filtering plankton from the water are then eaten by carnivores sending this chemical energy throughout the food web.

Menhaden swim with their large mouths open to filter plankton from the water. All along the Atlantic coast, Menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, or the Atlantic menhaden, is also called a bunker, pogies, or pogey depending on the fish size and region. Gulf Menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, are equally threatened by “reduction harvesting.”