The bait fishery operates throughout the Atlantic coastline, ranging from North Carolina to New England. Cast nets are also used for bait catch in the recreational fishing sector. The fishery's sustainability has also been certified by independent organizations. Friend of the Sea, an international seafood sustainability certification program, has recognized both the Atlantic menhaden and Gulf menhaden fisheries as sustainable. This is both due to the healthy status of the stock as well as the fishery's low levels of bycatch, which it achieves with the use of purse seine nets. Atlantic menhaden are managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), an interstate compact formed under an agreement by the 15 Atlantic coast states. Like with other species, the ASMFC manages menhaden to prevent overfishing and to keep the stock from being overfished. There is a subtle but distinct difference between the two designations. Overfishing occurs when too many fish are being taken from the population of a fish stock. A stock is considered overfished when it is not able to produce enough new fish to maintain the population. The ASMFC uses two biological measurements, or reference points, to measure the health of the menhaden stock. To determine if the stock is overfished, the ASMFC measures fecundity (FEC), the number of mature eggs in the menhaden population, which indicates the stock's reproductive capability. To measure overfishing, the ASMFC monitors fish mortality (F), the measure of the amount of fish removed from the water. In 2010, the ASMFC's stock assessment found that the stock's mortality levels were high enough that overfishing was occurring, but its fecundity level indicated that it was not overfished. Because the ASMFC's 2010 assessment concluded that Atlantic menhaden was experiencing overfishing, some conservation, fishing and other organizations began urging the Commission to impose new harvest restrictions, and the ASMFC began the process of drafting new catch limits. This culminated the development of Amendment 2 to the menhaden Fishery Management Plan that established a total allowable catch (TAC) of 170,800 metric tons (376,549,544 pounds), effectively reducing the coastwide harvest by 20 percent compared to average landings from 2009-2011. The cuts followed a sustained campaign by environmental groups like Chesapeake Bay Foundation, as well as authors like Paul Greenberg, who called for a ban on fishing menhaden in US federal waters and the Chesapeake Bay.