October 30, 2025 — The coastwide catch limit will be reduced by 20%, which is less than environmental and recreational fishing groups had hoped after a recently reported decline in the menhaden population.
Officials who regulate the Atlantic menhaden industry continue to wrestle with how to balance the fishery business with growing concerns about the ecosystem.
After hours of back-and-forth and competing motions, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Tuesday to reduce the coastwide catch limit by 20% for next year’s season.
The compromise was less than what environmental groups and recreational anglers wanted and more than the industry did. Virginia’s delegation voted against it.
Board members agreed to revisit the topic next fall, with the potential for further cuts for 2027 and 2028.
The commission helps manage fisheries for 15 states along the East Coast, from Florida to Maine. That includes setting the total allowable catch, or TAC, the maximum amount of menhaden that can be harvested along the coast.
Virginia is allocated about 75% of the total because it’s the last East Coast state that permits menhaden reduction fishing.
Ocean Harvesters, which operates a fishing fleet to supply Omega Protein, collects menhaden by using large walls of netting called purse seines. Omega then processes, or “reduces,” them into fishmeal and fish oil at a plant in Reedville.