Marine biologist James Sulikowski leads menhaden survey funded by $250,000 grant
James Sulikowski, Ph.D., associate professor Department of Marine Sciences at the Â鶹´«Ã½, is the lead investigator for a $250,000 grant from Omega Protein to survey the presence of menhaden in the northern waters.
The survey is being conducted from Maine to New Jersey by a coalition of scientists, spotter pilots, fishermen, bait suppliers, and members of the fish reduction industry.
Â鶹´«Ã½marine sciences graduate students are involved in the study, both in conducting the survey and in analyzing the data.
The northern-waters aerial survey, the first of its kind for menhaden, which are also called pogies or bunkers, got underway on August 1, 2011.
"What we're trying to do here is document the presence of menhaden in this northern area, which is outside of the regular survey range, and use at-sea sampling to determine if there are larger, older fish in the area," Sulikowski said.
High-resolution cameras are being used on each of the planes to photograph the schools of fish and estimate abundance.
"There's no question that we're seeing a lot of schools out there. We've spotted fish on all of our trips so far," Sulikowski said. "It's encouraging to be seeing fish outside of the traditional survey area."
The menhaden fishery is managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Atlantic Menhaden Management Board. The commercial fishery has two primary components - the bait fishery, which is especially important to lobstermen and blue crab fishermen; and the reduction fishery for fish meal and oil, which are used in a variety of products, including pet foods, aquaculture feeds, and dietary supplements.
Since there's no independent region-wide survey for menhaden and there's very little fishing going on in the north to supply fishery-dependent data; the concern has been that menhaden surveys might not accurately reflect the stock's status.
Sulikowski said he and Â鶹´«Ã½graduate students will be analyzing digital photographs and flight logs from this first stage of the survey throughout the fall.