By JULIET KASZAS-HOCH, The Sand Paper
Wildlife biologists, conservation organizations, local fishermen, and even President Trump are monitoring a dramatic decrease in numbers of menhaden – known colloquially as bunker – in the Atlantic Ocean. On and near Long Beach Island, the scarcity of this small schooling fish not only has affected anglers who catch the bunker to sell to tackle shops for bait, it’s caused populations of ospreys to collapse, as the lack of menhaden leads to abandoned incubation or starvation of young.
“Results from surveys this summer are on track to be the lowest recorded since early recovery efforts for ospreys began in the early 1970s,” said Ben Wurst, a senior wildlife biologist with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. “There is little doubt that this troubling decline is tied to the reduced availability of Atlantic menhaden – a critical food source – that has sustained the rebound of ospreys over the past several decades.”
Omega Protein, a Virginia-based subsidiary of Canadian seafood giant Cooke, has been targeted as a primary cause of the lack of menhaden. The company contracts with Ocean Harvesters, in Reedville, Va., to handle processing of the bunker – of which it catches many. In 2016, Wurst pointed out for reference, more than 323 million pounds of menhaden were landed in Virginia alone. In coastal Virginia, as in New Jersey, “osprey populations have collapsed, and the likely culprit is lack of prey,” he said.
Wurst oversees the N.J. Osprey Project, focused on monitoring and managing the statewide osprey population, which was nearly eliminated before a significant rebound after DDT was banned in 1972. Last Friday, July 18, he headed out by boat – along with CWF summer interns Marlee Canale, a field technician, and Sarah Neil, who works in communications – to check some of the raptors’ nests in the bay off Barnegat Light.
There have been a high number of nest failures in the area; on Friday, the group spotted just a few young, which Wurst banded for tracking. The same dearth of nestlings “has also been observed directly through livestreaming osprey cams from Cape May to Oceanville, and reported by some of our dedicated volunteers in other areas,” he explained. “Right now, all signs point to a lack of food.”
Related: NJ Outdoor Alliance backs federal ban on menhaden factory fishing
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