Menhaden Fishery Falls Far Short of Chesapeake Bay Catch Limit

Data raise questions about menhaden population ahead of key commission decision

As the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) weighs new limits for the industrial menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay, the reduction fishery industry’s haul for the 2025 season came in well below limits set for both the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Coast, according to data released this week. This warning sign stokes further concerns about menhaden availability up and down the coast.

The data from the ASMFC shows the reduction fishery industry caught fewer than 35,000 metric tons (mt) of menhaden in 2025 inside the Chesapeake Bay—well below the current Bay cap of 51,000 mt. And the total menhaden reduction harvest in 2025 was estimated at fewer than 95,000 mt—or about 60 percent of the industry’s allowed quota.

These results mean that the most technologically advanced fishing fleet on the East Coast couldn’t find enough menhaden to catch its limit. In addition to starving osprey chicks and plummeting bait catches by fishermen, it’s yet another red flag for a declining menhaden population—and evidence that commissioners must take action now.

When looking at the entire Atlantic Coast, the 2025 commercial menhaden harvest was fewer than 147,000 mt, or 63 percent of the coastwide quota. Therefore, the ASMFC’s decision last year to lower the coastwide quota 20 percent, to 186,400 mt in 2026, likely had no impact on protecting more menhaden.

The ASMFC is scheduled to vote on new limits on the menhaden harvest in the Bay and the entire Atlantic Coast at the commission’s annual meeting next week.

Public comments submitted on the proposal, known as Draft Addendum II, were overwhelmingly in favor of options that strengthen menhaden protections in the Bay and respond to intensifying warning signs and science-based ecological concerns, according to a public comment summary released by the ASMFC.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) supports the strongest options on the table, which include cutting the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap in half, linking the Cap to the coastwide catch limit, and creating three quota periods to better spread the harvest out throughout the season.

Menhaden are a key fish in marine food chains, feeding osprey, striped bass, and other wildlife. The menhaden reduction fishery is an industrial operation concentrated in the Virginia waters in and around the Chesapeake Bay, where industrial fishing vessels catch more than 100 million pounds of the fish each year with limited scientific understanding of the potential ecological and economic impacts.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Forage Campaign Manager Will Poston issued the following statement:

“When the Chesapeake Bay’s most advanced industrial fishing fleet can’t catch its limit, it’s clear menhaden are in trouble.

“Industry scare tactics claiming new catch limits will lead to layoffs ring hollow when they’re only catching 60 percent of their quota.

“Meanwhile, alarm bells in the Bay are getting louder. Osprey chicks are starving at unprecedented rates and bait fishermen and Bay watermen are struggling to find menhaden. It’s time for the ASMFC to cut the menhaden harvest cap inside the Bay.”

American Bird Conservancy Vice President of Advocacy and Threats Brian Brooks issued the following statement:

“Alarm bells in the Bay are ringing. The commercial fishery can’t find menhaden. Osprey chicks are starving because their parents can’t find menhaden. Bait fishermen and Bay watermen are struggling to find menhaden. It’s time for the ASMFC to cut the menhaden harvest cap inside the Bay in half.”

The Nature Conservancy Mid-Atlantic Seascape Director Kate Wilke issued the following statement:

“As a Fisheries Scientist, I have serious concerns that the size of the menhaden population has been overestimated and that fishing rates are too high. The recent news that only 63% of last year’s catch limits were harvested is another warning sign. Fishermen are good at catching fish—if they’re not finding them, managers should pay attention and reduce the catch limits.”