Management Goal

The goal of Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Menhaden is:

• "To manage the Atlantic menhaden fishery in a manner that is biologically, economically, socially and ecologically sound, while protecting the resource and those who benefit from it."

In support of this goal, the following objectives are included in the FMP:

Biological Objectives

• Protect and maintain the Atlantic menhaden stock at levels to maintain viable fisheries and the forage base with sufficient spawning stock biomass to prevent stock depletion and guard against recruitment failure.
  
  
• Maintain a uniform data collection system for the reduction fishery and develop new protocols for other harvesting sectors, including biological, economic, and sociological data.
  
  
• Evaluate, develop, and improve approaches or methodologies for stock assessment including fishery-independent surveys and variable natural mortality at age or by area.
  
  
• Optimize utilization of the resource within the constraints imposed by distribution of the resource, available fishing areas, and harvest capacity.

Social / Economic Objectives

• Maintain existing social and cultural features of the fishery to the extent possible.
  
  
• Develop a public information program for Atlantic menhaden, including the fishery, biology, estuarine ecology and role of menhaden in the ecosystem.

Ecological Objectives

• Protect fishery habitats and water quality in the nursery grounds to insure recruitment levels are adequate to support and maintain a healthy menhaden population.
  
  
• Improve understanding of menhaden biology, food web ecology and multispecies interactions that may bear upon predator-prey and recruitment dynamics.
  
  
• Protect and maintain the important ecological role Atlantic menhaden play along the coast

Management Objectives

• Insure adequate accessibility to fishing grounds.
  
  
• Develop options or programs to control or limit effort, and regulate fishing mortality by time or area.
  
  
• Base regulatory measures upon the best available scientific information and coordinate management efforts among the various political entities having jurisdiction over the fisheries.

Also review: