Lessons Learned and Recent Progress Towards Ecosystem-Based Reference Points for Managing Atlantic Menhaden: A Reality Check

Recent mandates on both federal and state levels indicate that managers are interested in moving beyond single species management and reference points, to adopt ecosystem-based approaches. While such an approach would lead to increased precision in abundance estimates and are a better foundation for decision making, they require specific management objectives beyond “enough fish in the water for predators” or “greater economic value for harvesters”.

Here we focus on the changes in both science and management for Atlantic menhaden and, to some extent, Atlantic herring. We examine how specific management questions prompted an expansion in analysis to meet those needs; and how vague goals led to confusion among different stakeholder groups, the public, and the scientific community. We discuss how ambiguous management objectives and scientific uncertainty contributed to deadlock and slow progress. We also investigate how clear determination and subsequent communication of management objectives, as well as scientific limitations, can lead to meaningful progress towards shared goals.