ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A Maryland lawmaker wants to ban products made from menhaden.
A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Annapolis on a bill by Delegate Peter Murphy that would prohibit making, selling or distributing products obtained from the processing of Atlantic menhaden.
The tiny oily fish are not harvested for human consumption, but instead are turned into a variety of products ranging from chicken feed to cosmetics. However, environmentalists and recreational fishermen say menhaden are environmentally important and overfished.
The Atlantic menhaden fishery once stretched from Maine to Florida but now has been reduced to one commercial fleet in Virginia and the remnants of a small fishery in North Carolina.
The hearing on the bill, also sponsored by Delegate David Rudolph, is scheduled before the House Environmental Matters Committee.
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