August 29, 2023 — The Virginia Office of the Attorney General is asking a Richmond judge to throw out a lawsuit from recreational fishers that says state regulators illegally increased menhaden catch limits.
The increase, the recreational fishers say, is having a negative impact on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
”This Court cannot issue the requested relief when that relief would result in a violation of another law,” wrote the Office of the Attorney General.
The Chesapeake Legal Alliance filed the lawsuit in May on behalf of the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization, a group that fishes in both Virginia and Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The group says the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which has overseen the Virginia menhaden fishery since 2020, increased the allowable catch limit outside the Oct. 1–Dec. 31 period when state law allows changes to fishery regulations.
The Office of the Attorney General, which is representing the VMRC, said Virginia had to increase the catch limit to comply with new limits set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which oversees fisheries on the East Coast. The ASMFC sets a coastwide catch limit for menhaden and then allocates a portion of it to each state. In Virginia, that quota is overseen by the VMRC.