With the shimmering Chesapeake Bay as a backdrop, Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich burnished his environmental credentials again Monday, getting a strong assist from Virginia?s Democratic Gov. Timothy Kaine.
Linked by satellite from a state park in Virginia, Kaine announced agreement on a compromise to cap the annual catch of menhaden fish, which help filter the Bay and provide feed for striped bass.
“It?s been very difficult getting there,” Kaine said. “It seemed to be a classic standoff.”
Environmentalists and sport fishermen wanted to limit the commercial fishing of the small fish. Such fishing is banned in Maryland but not Virginia.
Their view was supported by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a panel of the coastal states that demanded Virginia limit its take.
Omega Protein and the United Food and Commercial Workers union had resisted the limits, but agreed to the compromise last week that sets the cap at 109,000 metric tons, the average for the annual catch in the last five years. The compromise also allows Omega to harvest more the following year if the catch falls below the cap. The company, which produces fish oil and enriched fish meal at its Virginia plant, will also conduct research on menhaden.
“This is a tough issue in Virginia,” Ehrlich said, representing three years of discussion and negotiations in which he had pressed Virginia to reach asolution. “This has never been a partisan issue.”
Ehrlich was glad that the company and organized labor were at the table to reach the compromise. The governor had won passage of the so-called flush tax that will pay for improvements to sewage treatment plants that send effluent into the Bay. But he said filtering the estuary?s waters “naturally” with oysters and menhaden “is a preferable way.”
“This is a wonderful balance between conservation and commerce,” said Will Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay foundation. This agreement shows “we can save the Bay.”
Omega manager Toby Gascon said “a healthy Bay and healthy fisheries” are “what we depend on.”
These are “bread and butter” issues for his union?s members, Mark Federici of the UFCW said. An environmental coalition named Menhaden Matter called Ehrlich “a vocal and visible champion on behalf of this effort.”
The coastal fisheries commission must approve the compromise at an Aug. 16 meeting.
