Fisheries Regulators Delay Action for Chesapeake Bay Menhaden to Explore Options

To address growing warning signs around the Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Menhaden Management Board voted 14 to 2 in favor of further refining specific management changes to Virginia’s industrial reduction fishery in the Bay. Virginia and New Jersey were the only states to oppose the action.  

While advocates had hoped for more immediate action this week by the ASMFC, the new options for the menhaden fishery are now expected to be presented at ASMFC’s Winter 2026 meeting.   

Menhaden are a small, nutrient-rich fish that is a key food for osprey, striped bass, whales, and many other larger animals. A major industrial menhaden fishery based in Virginia, known as a reduction fishery, harvests more than 100 million pounds of menhaden from the Bay each year.  

The vote comes after a group of 12 conservation and angling organizations last week urged the ASMFC to take action on menhaden. In addition, numerous citizens have raised their voices about menhaden in the Bay and the many species that depend on them for food.  

The Bay is showing red flags linked to menhaden, including precipitously declining commercial menhaden catch rates in Maryland and Virginia from smaller bait fisheries and young of the year osprey starving in their nests in portions of the Chesapeake Bay. Nearly one year ago, the Menhaden Management Board voted to establish a work group to address these ongoing ecological warning signs in the Chesapeake Bay.  

The ASMFC’s Chesapeake Bay Precautionary Management work group presented its report in May. It showed industrial menhaden fishing effort increasing in the summer in recent years in the Chesapeake, while Maryland menhaden catches declined. This new timing of intense fishing pressure may be contributing to the problems facing the Chesapeake Bay.    

This week’s action requires the Commission to form a Plan Development Team that would provide the board with options to distribute reduction fishing effort throughout the season. This would mitigate broader ecosystem concerns and impacts to Maryland’s smaller menhaden bait fishery.  

Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Virginia Executive Director Chris Moore released the following statement: 

“There are clear signs of peril in the Chesapeake, and menhaden are one of the connecting threads. It’s been a year since the Commission first took notice of these concerns, yet any potential for further action has been delayed again.”  

“The Chesapeake’s fisheries and predators can’t wait. Menhaden are key to a thriving Chesapeake Bay, and a healthy, productive Chesapeake is vital to the entire Atlantic coast.  We appreciate the efforts of those on the ASMFC menhaden management board who have worked to keep this important issue at the forefront.”  

“One foreign-owned company consistently prevents progress in Virginia, and now coastwide at the ASMFC. While it’s encouraging that the ASMFC will continue working on this important issue over the coming months, the Chesapeake Bay is running out of time.”