Did you know that the WaterSMART program makes critical investments in local and regional efforts to conserve water and improve fish habitat? We need more of that on the Colorado River.
Did you know that the WaterSMART program makes critical investments in local and regional efforts to conserve water and improve fish habitat? We need more of that on the Colorado River.
Sportfishing groups will argue case before an independent adjudicator
The objections raised by sportfishing groups in opposition to certification of the industrial Atlantic menhaden fishery as a “sustainable fishery” are scheduled to be heard by an independent adjudicator on July 8 and 9.
In March, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Coastal Conservation Association, and American Sportfishing Association filed an objection—which was later combined with a similar objection raised by The Nature Conservancy and Chesapeake Bay Foundation—to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) recommendation that Omega Protein should receive a certification of sustainability for its U.S. Atlantic menhaden purse-seining operations.
Next week’s adjudication hearing is a significant step forward in the effort to ensure there is a healthy forage base for striped bass and other important sportfish in the Chesapeake Bay and all along the East Coast.
“To make it to the next stage of this process with a hearing and oral arguments is significant in that the independent adjudicator clearly recognizes that our objections have merit,” said David Sikorski, executive director of CCA Maryland. “The MSC process is not entirely predictable and has been criticized in the past as being far too aligned with commercial interests. We are encouraged that the very real concerns raised in our objection have had an impact.”
The recreational fishing community has long believed that Omega Protein’s relentless pressure on menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, the primary nursery ground for striped bass and many other sportfish, has caused localized depletions of forage, leading to an increase in diseased, stressed, and skinny fish in the Bay. The TRCP, ASA, and CCA objected to many of the certification findings and scores, including one that would grant the certification of sustainability on the condition that Omega reach certain milestones over four years, and not because the operation can be considered sustainable now.
“Certifying the Atlantic Menhaden fishery as sustainable at this time could undermine efforts at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to establish management that considers the entire ecosystem,” said Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the TRCP. “Striped bass populations are shrinking and there is evidence that removal of forage has contributed to that. We should be making sure that conservation measures are being enacted now—not years down the road.”
In the past, the MSC’s impartiality has been questioned since it has been funded in part from royalties paid by the very seafood processors seeking to use the MSC ecolabel. Third-party certifiers are paid by the entity seeking certification, and if the certification is successful, those third-party certifiers often receive long-term contracts to monitor chain-of-custody of the products and update reviews of the fishery every five years. In other words, both the MSC and the third-party certifiers stand to benefit financially from a successful certification.
In 2011, the prestigious science journal NATURE published a sharp critique of the MSC process, claiming that after the signing of a contract between the MSC and Walmart, the number of certified seafood products skyrocketed.
“We are committed to participating in this process and raising the concerns of the recreational fishing community, because once the sustainable label is bestowed on a fishery, it will be much more difficult to make needed management changes to that fishery,” said Mike Leonard, vice president of government affairs at the American Sportfishing Association. “That is particularly perilous when certifying a fishery that targets a forage base on which so many sportfish depend.”
While it is not known what fees Omega has paid to the MSC to pursue certification, the TRCP, ASA, and CCA have been required to pay a £2500 (or roughly $3,150) “objection fee” to the London-based MSC to make their case in this next round of the process.
Learn more about menhaden and their role in the marine food web here.
This is YOUR chance to play a role in how our public lands are managed and ensure that sportsmen and women have a say about the places where we love to hunt and fish
The Bureau of Land Management is revising its plans that will determine the future management of more than 906,000 acres of public land in western and central Montana, including the Missouri River Breaks as well as the Garnet and John Long Ranges near Missoula. Sportsmen and women must get involved to ensure that the best habitats are conserved and public access for hunting and fishing is maintained.
Please attend a local public meeting in the next few weeks (see schedule below) and share your perspective as a public land user.
These events will offer updates on the planning process, allow the public to share their ideas and opinions on the draft plan, and explain ways for interested citizens to stay involved.
The best way to see that our priorities are included in the plan is to have a presence and provide input at these meetings. Meeting dates, locations, and times, as well as suggested talking points are listed below.
Thank you for taking the time to support our public lands.
Lewistown Field Office RMP
| Meeting Location | Date | Time | Address |
| Winnett | July 8, 2019 | 5pm – 7pm | Petroleum County Courthouse, 302 E. Main Street |
| Lewistown | July 9, 2019 | 5pm – 7pm | Yogo Inn, 211 E. Main Street |
| Great Falls | July 10, 2019 | 5pm – 7pm | Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, 4201 Giant Springs Road |
Missoula Field Office RMP
| Meeting Location | Date | Time | Address |
| Missoula | July 11, 2019 | 4pm – 6pm | U of M, Todd Building (Continuing Ed building connected to the University Center), Rooms 203 and 204 |
Suggested Talking Points:
Read the Missoula Field Office RMP
Read the Lewistown Field Office RMP
Photo: Charlie Bulla
Annual flooding on the Mississippi River is part of life in South Louisiana
Each year, the Mississippi swells with late winter and spring rain and snowmelt, carrying sediments from the Midwest and the Great Plains down to the Gulf of Mexico. Before levees the length of the river were built to tame floods and help navigation, the swollen river would spill over into the swamps and marshes of Louisiana’s coast, building an intricate web of coastal rivers, bayous, ponds, lakes, bays, and thick, lush marshes.
The land underneath my house in Baton Rouge was built in the last 15,000 years by that annual flooding. The towns of Dulac, Dularge and Grand Isle, where I will launch from to fish in the coming days and weeks are built on land created by the great river in the last 5,000 years.
If the average annual flood is a garden hose, the floods of 2018 and 2019 are a fire hydrant that nobody can figure out how to turn off.
The Mississippi has been above the highwater mark (8 feet on the New Orleans gauge) for going on 230 days and there is no sign it will go below that mark in the coming month. While high water makes shipping more treacherous and dirties adjacent bays, the Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t act to protect New Orleans from flooding until the river gets to between 16 and 17 feet, prompting the opening of the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway, a floodgate located about 25 miles upstream that can direct about a quarter of the river’s flow into Lake Pontchartrain and take pressure off levees that protect the city.
This year, Bonnet Carre’ has been open for a record number of days–86 and counting. And it appears that number will grow to at least 95 days before its gates are shut for good. The old-timers talk about 1973 being the year the Mighty Mississippi almost broke free of its shackles. And the real old timers talk about 1927 when the river experienced unprecedented flooding. Now we have 2019 to add to the annals.
Generally, June is when the river begins to drop below flood stage and settle into its summer and fall channel, and when conditions downriver begin to change as the Gulf of Mexico’s green, saltier waters take over coastal bays southeast of New Orleans.
But this year the flood keeps pushing past and as a result silt-heavy freshwater from the Mississippi, Pearl, Atchafalaya, and Sabine Rivers has inundated coastal lakes and bays across Louisiana’s coast well into the summer. Sure, we understand summer doesn’t start until June 21 on the calendar, but once the thermometer touches 90, it’s summer. And that happened about a month and a half ago.
The muddy waters have some Louisiana anglers discouraged, assuming it’s just not worth the effort to put the boat in the water. But many have persevered, adapting to the freshwater influxes and finding speckled trout and redfish concentrated in areas adjacent to the freshwater, where there is enough salinity for them to feed on the shrimp, mullet,menhaden, and even freshwater shad, bluegill and crawfish that come with the floods. It’s far from an ideal summertime situation, but in some cases the fishing has been outstanding even in areas inundated by river water.
Often, Louisiana anglers lose sight of how adaptive the fish and animals can be. Speckled trout and redfish didn’t show up in Louisiana after levees were built along the Mississippi River. They were here long before that and live here because of the habitat, nutrients and food supplied by the river, not in spite of it. The speckled trout that have left coastal marshes and lakes close to the river to find saltier water this spring and summer will return this fall when the Gulf pushes back against the river,and the Gulf will most certainly push back. Then those fish will find areas full of vegetation, food, and new habitat.
Hopefully this year’s flood will be the catalyst for a serious examination of the way the Mississippi River is managed top-to-bottom. The strategy of narrowing the river, forcing it higher and higher through levees seems to be a failing approach in many parts of the country. Sediment is building up in areas throughout the basin, leading to reduced storage capacity during floods while areas downriver need more sediment to keep up with subsidence.
Those who make policy and folks who live and fish along the great river will have to adapt to what the present and future will bring, just like the fish residing in our favorite coastal lakes and bays have had to change over time.
Theodore Roosevelt’s experiences hunting and fishing certainly fueled his passion for conservation, but it seems that a passion for coffee may have powered his mornings. In fact, Roosevelt’s son once said that his father’s coffee cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub.” TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to bring together his two loves: a strong morning brew and a dedication to conservation. With your purchase, you’ll not only enjoy waking up to the rich aroma of this bolder roast—you’ll be supporting the important work of preserving hunting and fishing opportunities for all.
Learn More
Odd title there first….women who fish/hunt are “Sportsmen” far as I can tell. Smell much better than the “other” ones too! The fishing on the Colorado is something I plan to experience soon. All our fishable waters must be not just preserved but enhanced mightily if we want to be a vibrant and alive society or just watch TV all our lives…