There are three primary objections to the menhaden fishery. First, by taking entire schools of this primary forage fish, people argue that they cause valuable food fish to leave an area, at least temporarily. Second, people argue that the purse nets scoop up valuable game fish as part of their catch. Finally, people argue that these big, smelly factory ships conflict with their enjoyment of the beaches and waters. The industry says that none of these arguments bear any truth.
Scientific evidence is scanty.
There was a study conducted by VIMS about by-catch, initially dismissing it as an issue. After protests from CCA and other parties, VIMS recalculated the data and concluded by-catch was 14 times higher than their initial report claimed. Because the samples were all from vessels that knew their catch would be checked, CCA believes the entire study was invalid. Even when they knew they would be checked, the by-catch exceeded the legal limits in many of the samples and significant numbers of food fish were killed. Conflicts, forage, and by-catch are all valid concerns and menhaden fishing should be further restricted.