Saving Seafood

VIRGINIA: Young fishing voice joins Chesapeake Bay menhaden debate

September 24, 2026 — Hundreds of Northern Neck residents turned out Saturday as Virginia’s commercial menhaden community urged fisheries managers to hold off on further Chesapeake Bay harvest restrictions while several new studies of the fishery are underway.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is considering changes to the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap through Draft Addendum II to the Atlantic Menhaden Fishery Management Plan. Options include cutting the current 51,000-metric-ton cap by as much as 50 percent and potentially tying it to the coastwide total allowable catch.

According to WHRO Public Media and Rappahannock Record, 439 people attended the Sept. 19 public hearing at Northumberland High School, where many speakers called on managers to wait for additional scientific research before reducing the cap.

The turnout included employees and families connected to Ocean Harvesters and Omega Protein’s Reedville processing operation, as well as other members of the Northern Neck community.

Among those addressing fisheries managers was 13-year-old Charlotte Blackwell, whose father is a fishing boat captain.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Fishing Report: Hearing on menhaden set for Dec. 19 at URI

December 9th, 2016 — Atlantic menhaden are an important forage fish for striped bass, bluefish, tuna and other species. Recreational anglers claim that fishing for these game fish is off when the quantity of forage fish is down. Additionally, Atlantic menhaden are filter feeders with each fish processing thousands of gallons of water filtering out plankton to help prevent algae blooms.

So if you want to impact regulations pertaining to this species, now is the time to become active. There will be an Atlantic menhaden public hearing to talk about important Fishery Management Plan issues on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Corless Auditorium at the URI Bay Campus, Narragansett. The hearing will address a new Public Information Document that is a predecessor to Amendment 3 to the Atlantic menhaden Fishery Management Plan that will be developed later this year.

NOAA’s website says Atlantic menhaden “play an important role in the ecosystem as both a forage fish for striped bass, weakfish, bluefish, and predatory birds such as osprey and eagles as well as serving as a filter feeder because they feed on phytoplankton and zooplankton at various life stages.”

Read the full story at the Providence Journal