Atlantic menhaden. They’re rightfully called the most important fish in the ocean, even when being egregiously over-exploited by a very limited sector of commercial fishing.
The menhaden industry wracks the ecologically vital fishery to the tune of 500 million fish harvested per year. Left in the lurch are untold numbers of marine and avian species that depend on menhaden for perpetuation.
The rendered product is primarily used for fishmeal, Omega 3 supplements and bait. It is not used to make WD-40, a persistent old wives’ tale.
This year, hard-lobbying conservationists are making concerted efforts to force a harvesting reduction.
While menhaden are taken along much of the Eastern Seaboard, the focus of the conservation effort is the Chesapeake Bay area, where around 75% to 85% of Atlantic menhaden is landed by a single major company, Omega Protein Ocean Harvesters.
Importantly, bunker harvesters, like Omega, are functioning legally – working well within fishery management mandates, based on a single species sustainability.
With that legality established, conservationists realized they must foremostly target those who set the harvesting limits.
Currently in the crosshairs is the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. It manages menhaden on a coastwide basis, setting the allowable catch by dividing quotas among states from Florida to Maine.
As to how this menhaden harvesting pressure first came about, it has been going whole hog since the Colonial Period, when the fish were ignobly used as fertilizer, which is still a modern practice.
As a side note, I should address an unfair suggestion that the recreational fishing realm has been steadfastly indifferent to the ecologically disastrous “bunker” situation. That’s absolute nonsense.
For decades on end, groups like the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, Recreational Fishing Alliance, Chesapeake Bay Foundation and fishermen in general have clamorously railed against the ecologically irrational carnage of a forage fish that defines the health and welfare of the entire western Atlantic’s marine ecosystem.
Years of protesting have been stifled. Management has offered no acceptable reason why a single niche industry is allowed to so thoroughly dominate an oceanic commodity that can deeply impact so many aspects of the maritime bionetwork.
Unsurprisingly, things come down to political influences, as politicos sympathetic to menhaden harvesters have proven powerful enough to sway fishery management. They tout industry jobs, while forwarding conveniently tweaked data suggesting the overall menhaden biomass is doing quite decently, based purely on shallow-sighted sustainability considerations.
Now being investigated is how species-specific sustainability might negatively impact the survival success of species that rely on the forage fish. Might the sustainability of one species mean ruin for a slew of other species?
That issue looms large among politicians fighting on behalf of menhaden conservation.
National Fisherman recently reported on federal- and state-level legislative action to reduce and heavily restrict menhaden harvesting, noting that September 2026 saw U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.), along with nine congressional colleagues, put legislative pressure on the ASMFC to prioritize “an ecosystem-based” management approach.
“They are explicitly urging the commission to pass the strongest menhaden protections proposed under Draft Addendum II, which could slash the industrial reduction fishery cap in the Chesapeake Bay by up to 50%.”
The “ecosystem-based management” is far from new or novel. Going back decades, Congress has required fishery management to holistically consider all creatures in the sea, not just elite or politically powerful species.
Menhaden’s assigned sustainability level has not adequately factored in how said sustainability might ultimately damage the populations of countless other species, many of which anglers have noticed are suspiciously unable to repopulate even under strict management guidelines.
With a surge in the menhaden population, it is believed that species currently being stymied from increasing in number could proportionally expand.
Opening the menhaden floodgates should open the same gates to numerous fisheries that fishermen – and the marine environment – covet.
I HEAR YOU THINKING: I read about a mental mechanism that lurks within all our psyches, though virtually nobody knows what it’s called … until now.
Meet schadenfreude, a fully endorsed scientific term. It’s a so-called loan word, gleaned from the German schaden (harm) and freude (joy). It’s pronounced shaa duhn froy duh.
By my read, it is an inner satisfaction in seeing misfortune befalling others, though it’s not nearly as bad as it might sound, once the pronunciation is mastered.
In Wiki dictionary terms, schadenfreude is an innate pleasure, joy or self-satisfaction derived from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures or humiliation of another.
Google further specifies “It is a feeling of fleeting relief or amusement when an arrogant person, rival, or rule-breaker stumbles.”
As noted, it is a deeply rooted universal human emotion, experienced by one and all, across all cultures and ages. Researchers propose that it can begin at a young age, based on findings that toddlers display a flash of schadenfreude satisfaction when a misbehaving sibling is scolded.
There’s even suspicion that pets yuck it up when other house pets – or even family members – get chewed out. Then there’s the snickering schadenfreude displayed by the Road Runner.
As to a more easily pronounced synonym for schadenfreude, comeuppance is close, but lacks medical merit.
Upon learning the word – after using Google “Pronounce” to say it right – I’ve dug up some daily examples of the phenomenon. Jumping early to mind was a motoring event I had just last month. It offered a whopper worth of a schadenfreude.
I was driving the Parkway when a jackass in a tinted-out sports sedan flew past and needlessly swung in front of me. Words far simpler to say than schadenfreude flew freely from my lips.
Then, a few miles down the road, there was the same hotshot … pulled over by a trooper! I was so overwhelmed with schadenfreude that I accidentally drifted onto the highway’s rumble strip – surely causing the trooper to swing his head my way.
Thinking of kinder and gentler forms of schadenfreude, I picture a mom telling children to stop doing something or they’ll get hurt. Sure enough. Even though mom rushes over with a lapful of comfort, she’s also fielding the famed “See, I told you” schadenfreude – to which a kid of my timbre would hypothetically retort, “Cut the schadenfreude crap and get me a frickin’ ice pack!”
A weirder schadenfreude application has little Johnny the Egghead making the finals of a spelling bee and silently going spastically schadenfreude when his lone competitor misspells “syzygy” – that is, until the monitor then says, “OK, Johnny, for the grand prize, spell … schadenfreude.” Talk about the schadenfreude being on the other foot.
Only last Sunday, I detected a sophisticated form of gentlemanly schadenfreude.
During a televised golf tournament, two top PGA golfers were tied for the lead. Together on the 18th green, one blew two short putts for a double bogey. The cameraman swung over to the other golfer, who stood there like a bronze statue, while internally issuing a million-dollar “Ha, ha!” he secreted within.
Speaking of which, the perfect fictionalized purveyor of rampant schadenfreude is Nelson Muntz. Who?!
Nelson is the chubby little bully on “The Simpsons” who constantly vocalizes his flagrant schadenfreude with the world’s most aggravating “Ha, ha!” – meant to mock anyone’s misfortune, though most often aimed at Bart.
Finally, who out there might be guilty of harboring political schadenfreude upon seeing a herein unnamed president doing a face plant while deboarding a plane? That stoic Marine rushing to his aid is also schadenfreudedly bearing a “Dumb-ass!”
WEATHER WORD: Just when we started settling into a fine fall run of west-wind days, we got doused with those cyclone remnants.
Not to fear, we’re back on track for classic autumnal offshore wind times, though there will be an insertion of chilliness out of Canada.
The upcoming weekend could see night temps toying with the upper 30s in the Pines. On LBI, nights into November will remain generally slightly above normal, while moisture will be tough to come by – not that we haven’t had our fill of the stuff.
BUGGY BANTER: Most Island towns are now open to permitted buggy use. Barnegat Light is an ongoing exception.
Island beaches are generally very drivable. This is expected, as sands lost to nor’easters are doing their typical post-storm bounce-back.
Warning: While Holgate’s south end beachline remains wide and highly passable all the way to The Rip, a series of high-tide ponds from the latest blow led to ponding on the upper beach. The runoff of the water back into the ocean has left erosional gullies running from west to east. Some of these are very steep and hard to see when driving north/south. Best bet is to take it slow and follow existing tracks, though some of those previous tracks could be left from folks who found the drop-offs the hard way.
Holgate lookabout: The calmer waters inside the roiled area of The Rip have recently seen a remarkable showing of bay anchovies. These spearing lookalikes were so thick they turned the water a brownish red. Small bluefish were savaging them.
With this fall’s lousy mullet and bunker showings, these packed-in anchovies can be a gamefish draw, attracting bass and blues, especially when clouds of these forage fish move along the Island’s front beaches.
I’m among less-than-talented anglers who would give an arm and leg to once again chase blitz action, during which everyone easily hooks up.
RUNDOWN: The 2026 LBI Surf Fishing Classic is experiencing a fine flow of tautog weigh-ins, mainly from the north end. Most have been taken on sand crabs.
Speaking of the Classic, it is now in full swing … and missing many of you horribly. You unentered past participants need to light a fire under yourselves. With many weeks still to go, the best fishing of the season is moving into place. Quit holding out! Some serious prize monies have your name written all over them.
To see the leader board, go to lbisfc.com/live-results.
Tangent: Most traffic signals along much of Long Beach Boulevard and Central Avenue are switching over to the beloved wintertime “flashing.” There are a few stay-on exceptions in Ship Bottom. Harvey Cedars keeps one signal cycling.
