As warning signs escalate in the Chesapeake Bay, a recent poll shows the vast majority of Virginians support increased protection of menhaden—a small fish that is an important food for larger fish, osprey, and whales.
An overwhelming 92 percent of Virginia voters believe the state should leave more menhaden in the Bay, according to a poll of 600 registered Virginia voters conducted by a pair of research firms—one Republican and one Democrat—between July 30 and Aug. 5.
Menhaden in Virginia’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay are the target of Omega Protein, a subsidiary of Canadian corporation Cooke, Inc., and its partner Ocean Harvesters. In what is called a reduction fishery, this industry uses spotter planes, enormous purse seine nets, and vacuum hoses to harvest more than 100 million pounds of menhaden annually from Virginia’s Bay waters.
Longstanding concerns about the appropriate size of a menhaden fishery in Chesapeake Bay are gaining attention amid reports of plummeting menhaden catches by Maryland watermen and small-scale Virginia fishermen, as well as unprecedented levels of starving osprey chicks. Industry efforts to block science and data on Chesapeake Bay menhaden has left Virginia without enough information to effectively manage the fishery.
“Virginians resoundingly want more menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, and overwhelmingly back every single policy we tested for stricter management of the Bay’s menhaden fishery,” said Lori Weigel, a pollster with the Republican research firm New Bridge Strategy.
“We almost never see this kind of consensus across party, age, and geography,” said Miranda Everitt, a pollster with the Democratic research firm FM3.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), which commissioned the poll with New Bridge Strategy and FM3 Research, has for decades advocated for better management of the Bay's menhaden resource.
Further delay of menhaden management reform and science only worsens the threats to the Bay and all the dependent communities. Therefore, CBF believes the best approach is to pause industrial menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay until science can show whether concentrating the fishery here is sustainable.
“We can't continue to stick our heads in the sand and ignore the storm brewing. The Bay’s lack of menhaden is already hurting small businesses, commercial and recreational fisheries, and the predators that depend on menhaden for food,” said CBF Virginia Executive Director Chris Moore. “It is clear Virginians want definitive action to leave more menhaden in the Bay. The safest approach is to pause menhaden reduction fishing inside Chesapeake Bay until science can show whether this industrial fishery is sustainable.”
Poll results show that Virginians strongly back reform of the industrial menhaden fishery:
- 79 percent support ending large-scale commercial menhaden fishing in the Bay until science can show what fishing level is compatible with a healthy ecosystem;
- 85 percent support allowing commercial fishing of menhaden in ocean waters, but not in the Chesapeake Bay where younger fish feed and grow;
- 92 percent would prefer to see Virginia leave more menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay to support the ecosystem;
- 80 percent support allocating $5 million in state funding to a study to improve management of the menhaden fishery and answer longstanding concerns; and,
- 92 percent support requiring commercial menhaden fishing companies to publicly release data about where they fish and how much they catch.
‘Houston, We Have a Problem’
Ospreys exclusively eat fish, and the Chesapeake Bay is home to the largest breeding population of ospreys on the planet. Research shows that in recent years osprey chicks are starving at unprecedented levels around tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay, where they typically depend on menhaden for food.
In contrast to the reduction industry, Maryland and Virginia watermen that catch menhaden on a much smaller scale for bait are reporting catches declining by more than 70 percent in recent years.
In Maryland the bait harvest dropped from 3.5 million pounds in 2022 to just 1 million pounds in 2024, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The Virginia reported menhaden bait harvest dropped from 5.4 million pounds in 2019 to less than 1 million pounds in 2024, according to data from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. In contrast, Omega Protein’s harvest quota for Chesapeake Bay menhaden stands at 112 million pounds.
“Houston, we have a problem,” said Russel Dize at an Aug. 7 meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Menhaden Management Board. Dize is a waterman who represents Maryland’s governor as an ASMFC board member. “We're hurting. And our menhaden business has completely dried up, so our crabbers can't get bait,” he later added.
Beyond intense fishing pressure, several factors could be affecting menhaden and osprey, including pollution, climate change, and development. “Given these mounting challenges, the Chesapeake Bay may no longer be able to support a massive industrial fishery,” Moore said.
Virginia Institute of Marine Science: Data Inadequate, Time to Consider Restricting Fishing
Virginia is the only East Coast state to allow menhaden reduction fishing in its waters. Currently, management of the Atlantic menhaden fishery is based on science for the coastwide population from Maine to Florida. While an important driver of coastwide fishery management, this leaves open questions about the impacts of highly concentrated menhaden fishing in Virginia waters.
There is no existing data to determine whether this level of harvest is sustainable in the Chesapeake Bay, a critical nursery habitat. Scientists do not fully understand the industrial fishery’s impacts on Bay fisheries and habitat, and the threats to Virginia businesses and livelihoods.
The menhaden reduction industry has consistently worked to delay critical science proposals and common-sense conservation measures, including a menhaden study in Virginia’s General Assembly earlier this year.
For example, the industry opposed implementation of the revised Chesapeake Bay harvest cap for menhaden in 2017. In 2019, Omega Protein intentionally caught approximately 33-percent more fish in the Bay than allowed under the cap, leading to Virginia being found out of compliance. Then in 2021, the industry refused to participate in cooperative research with federal and academic partners to improve menhaden management in the Chesapeake Bay.
Once again, legitimate concerns about the sustainability of industrial menhaden fishing in the Bay and ecological warning signs are mounting. Yet the industry ignores these concerns and has effectively worked to delay science. These consistent delays are not only bad for the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay, but also those who depend on the Bay’s menhaden resource for their livelihood.
For several years, Virginia has worked toward a comprehensive study to better inform management of the Bay’s menhaden fishery. But industry opposition has resulted in delaying necessary research funding the last two years in Virginia’s General Assembly.
Earlier this year, Omega Protein’s team of lobbyists instead requested a study of study methods. They did so despite having participated in consensus discussions that developed the study plan.
In addition to opposing research on Chesapeake Bay menhaden, Omega Protein continues to hide behind rules that allow them to keep their fishing data from the public.
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), the Commonwealth’s primary scientific advisory body, is expressing concern.
“It is perhaps the wisest course of action to take a precautionary approach and give serious consideration to reducing purse seine fishing in Chesapeake Bay,” states an April 7 VIMS letter.
“The reality is that data on menhaden abundances in Chesapeake Bay, their movements between the Bay and the inner continental shelf, localized depletion resulting from fishing, and the ecological impacts of the purse seine fishery all remain woefully inadequate and difficult management decisions must be made in this context,” the letter states
For too long, one company has wielded outsize influence to block science in order to exploit the Bay’s menhaden resource.
“With so many unanswered questions, we are risking the health of our cherished wildlife, the Chesapeake Bay, and the menhaden fishery itself,” Moore said. “The best option is to pause industrial menhaden fishing in the Bay until Virginia completes sorely-needed research. In the long term, this is the safest move for Omega Protein’s workers, the community of Reedville, and the future health of the Chesapeake Bay.”
