Maryland Archives - Page 2 of 44

Coastwide Menhaden Catch Limit Cut by 20% as Potential Bay Cuts Loom

October 29, 2025 — In a marathon four-hour fishery management meeting on Tuesday, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC)’s Menhaden Management Board grappled with menhaden catch limits up and down the East Coast. Under pressure from environmentalists to cut catch limits and from menhaden fishermen to protect their livelihoods, board members for the ASMFC voted to reduce the coastwide menhaden catch by 20% in 2026, allowing fishermen to land 186,840 metric tons. The total allowable catch will be revisited in time for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. This motion passed 16-2, with only Virginia and Pennsylvania voting against it.

Inside the Chesapeake Bay, however, the rules are different. The Virginia menhaden reduction fishery, led by purse seine operator Ocean Harvesters, adheres to its own limit, known as the “Bay Cap”, which is currently set at 51,000 metric tons of fish. But environmentalists argue that a much lower Bay Cap is needed to protect the environment. They want to cut the reduction fishery’s limit by 50%. Groups like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation believe menhaden are in trouble, and since menhaden are an important forage fish, that there isn’t enough food to go around for predators like osprey and rockfish. The Virginia menhaden fishing industry disputes the claim that menhaden are in trouble, or that the Bay’s osprey and rockfish population struggles are directly related to a lack of menhaden.

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS) just funded a new project that will pull together all of the existing research on menhaden in the Bay, identify gaps in the research, and propose new study methods to fill these gaps. This would lead to solid research for setting a meaningful Bay harvest cap for that is based on data and is scientifically defensible.

Scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons, Maryland, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and NOAA, will lead the project to develop a “research roadmap” for Bay fishery managers.

Since that future research won’t be available for some time, the ASMFC Menhaden Management Board moved to initiate a new addendum that would potentially change how the Bay Cap is used, or lower the limit. This addendum would “develop periods for the Chesapeake Bay Cap that distributes fishing effort more evenly throughout the season” and it would also develop “a range of options to reduce the Bay Cap.” These options could be anything from keeping the cap at its current level to a 50% reduction. The hope is to have a draft of the addendum ready to present at ASMFC’s next meeting this winter.

Read the full article at the Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Virginia, Maryland spawning surveys spell trouble for prized Atlantic coast gamefish species

October 24, 2025 — The most recent Chesapeake Bay striped bass spawning surveys are in and the news is not good.

A young-of-the-year survey done by the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences shows spawning recruitment just below historical averages in Virginia’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries. A survey conducted by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay waters shows numbers significantly lower than historical averages.

That makes seven straight years of poor Chesapeake Bay spawns. Because 70% to 90% of all Atlantic striped bass are spawned and reared in the Chesapeake, the numbers are even more alarming. Striped bass numbers are declining. The fish has a billion dollar sport and commercial fishing impact on the economy of every state from North Carolina to Maine.

Read the full article at WAVY

MARYLAND: Maryland lawmaker pushes for final decision on offshore wind project

October 22, 2025 — Maryland State Senator Mary Beth Carozza is urging federal officials to reject offshore wind energy development off the coast of Ocean City.

In a letter to Eugenio Piñeiro-Soler, Assistant Secretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Carozza expressed support for his recent visit to Ocean City and a September 24 meeting at Sunset Marina. She said attendees were encouraged by his remarks and hope for a final rejection of US Wind’s project, as well as any future offshore wind proposals.

Carozza outlined concerns about the size and number of turbines, potential impacts on marine life, commercial fishing, tourism, and Maryland ratepayers. She also cited testimony from a January Congressional field hearing in Ocean City, where industry representatives highlighted flaws in offshore wind planning and warned of risks to commercial fisheries and food security.

Read the full article at CoastTV

Seven years of bad luck for striped bass, survey shows

October 22, 2025 — Striped bass reproduction has remained below average in parts of the Chesapeake Bay since 2018, and this year is no different.

The annual juvenile striped bass surveys from Maryland and Virginia give insight as to how the next generation of striped bass will sustain the population. With continuing poor results, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering stronger catch limits.

Striped bass are top predators in the Bay and support commercial and recreational fishing. They are found along the East Coast from Canada to Florida, but they spawn and spend the first few years of their lives in the Bay.

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science has conducted its annual survey on striped bass since 1967. This year, scientists caught more than 1,000 juvenile striped bass at 18 sites in the Rappahannock, York and James rivers with a 100-foot seine net. Fish are captured, counted, measured and thrown back.

Read the full article at Bay Journal

Striped Bass Reproduction Still Low in Maryland, Despite Slight Improvement

October 16, 2025 — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says the state’s striped bass population is showing only slight improvement, with reproduction levels still well below average.

The department’s 2025 juvenile striped bass survey recorded a young-of-year index of 4.0 — an uptick from recent years, but far below the long-term average of 11. It marks the seventh straight year of low spawning success for the species, which is Maryland’s state fish.

“Management actions taken over the last decade have resulted in a healthy population of spawning-age striped bass,” said Lynn Fegley, director of DNR’s Fishing and Boating Services. “However, continued low numbers of striped bass entering the population is a threat to this progress.”

Read the full article at WBOC

Maryland offshore wind lawsuit to push ahead during shutdown

October 8, 2025 — Litigation over an offshore wind project near Maryland will continue during the federal government shutdown despite a request from the Trump administration for a delay.

Judge Stephanie Gallagher of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland said during a status conference Tuesday that she would not halt the proceedings while much of the U.S. government is shuttered.

Guidance from the Justice Department allows attorneys in civil litigation to continue working if ordered to do so by a court and under various other exceptions.

Read the full article at E&E News

MARYLAND: Maryland renewable energy projects face uncertain future

October 6, 2025 — In August, the Trump administration revoked hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for Maryland renewable energy infrastructure projects.

The Maryland Offshore Wind Project and the Maryland Solar for All initiatives took significant blows after President Donald Trump cancelled grants for renewable projects across the nation.

Trump has described wind and solar as “expensive and unreliable energy sources,” seeking instead to promote domestic fossil fuel production.

Since the onset of his administration, Trump has signed 15 executive orders shifting federal policy away from renewable energy initiatives toward more traditional energy sources such as oil and coal.

Read the full article at Capital News Service

MARYLAND: Harris hosts offshore wind summit

October 3, 2025 — The Eastern Shore’s congressman said he believes the Trump White House likely will be working to halt a proposed wind farm off the coast of Ocean City after reevaluating its permits.

Federal officials came to Ocean City last week for a rare face-to-face meeting with local leaders and commercial watermen to discuss long-running concerns about the proposed US Wind offshore project.

Congressman Andy Harris (R-1st) hosted the meeting at Sunset Grille in West Ocean City, where a representative from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration met with stakeholders.

“I think they were very happy to hear that the officials from NOAA were cognizant of their concerns, and I think the officials who were there agreed with them that the offshore wind project likely would do permanent damage to the commercial fishery,” he said.

Read the full article at OC Today-Dispatch

MARYLAND: Maryland ASMFC Delegates Once Again Claim “No Menhaden” — But Baltimore Fish Kills Show Otherwise

September 29, 2025 — For the second year in a row, Maryland’s top delegates to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) claimed menhaden were absent from Maryland’s upper Chesapeake Bay, blaming Virginia’s commercial fishermen for intercepting the fish. Yet within weeks of their irresponsible statements, tens of thousands of menhaden turned up dead in a series of massive fish kills in Baltimore Harbor, directly contradicting their testimony.

At the August 7, 2025 ASMFC Atlantic Menhaden Management Board meeting, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Director Lynn Fegley and veteran waterman Russell Dize painted a bleak picture. About menhaden, Fegley told fellow commissioners that “they just are meeting maybe an outsized gauntlet” of concentrated harvest and “are in the Bay … but they were not where we are,” warning of “lower availability” and “intensive effort” that she said was “creating less escapement for these fish to get through to these small-scale gears.” Dize reinforced the point, saying, “There’s a reason why the menhaden aren’t coming in the Bay, and we need to find [it].”

These 2025 comments closely echoed their testimony a year earlier. At the August 2024 ASMFC summer meeting, Dize flatly asserted, “In Maryland, this year we have no menhaden, none… One half a bushel, Maryland has no menhaden,” while Fegley added, “There are no menhaden in Maryland. The artisanal stationary gears that Maryland watermen fish are not capturing bait for our crab fisheries.”

Yet in both years, nature quickly told a different story.

Baltimore Fish Kills Prove Menhaden Are Present
Just weeks after the 2025 meeting, Baltimore experienced three major fish kills, each comprised largely of menhaden. According to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), about 61,000 fish died on August 22, at least 120,000 on August 28, and another 25,000 on September 24 from Canton to Locust Point (CBS Baltimore). Eyewitness posts on Reddit and YouTube confirm that menhaden were the species involved.

Blue Water Baltimore’s Leanna Frick told WBAL Radio, “One silver lining is that if there aren’t fish in the harbor, you don’t see them in a fish kill … there are a lot of menhaden in the harbor, which are food species for other animals.”

The same pattern emerged after the 2024 ASMFC meeting. In early September 2024, about 24,000 dead menhaden surfaced in Baltimore Harbor; coverage of the fish kill included Chesapeake Bay Magazine, What’s Up? Media, and National Fisherman. This was followed in October 2024 by a Maryland DNR juvenile striped bass survey reporting near-record menhaden abundance, contradicting the commissioners’ “no menhaden” statements.

Blaming Virginia Fishermen While Overlooking Home Waters

Fegley and Dize have repeatedly suggested, absurdly, that Virginia’s menhaden reduction fleet, comprised of just six fishing vessels, is intercepting all the fish before they reach Maryland. But environmental experts point to Maryland’s own water-quality failures as a more direct culprit. The EPA has found zero progress on stormwater runoff, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Gussie Maguire, who warned that “pollution from stormwater has outpaced any management improvements due to increased development pressure and more intense rainfall from climate change” (What’s Up? Media).

National Fisherman likewise reported Maguire’s statement that “Maryland’s failure to adequately conduct stormwater management means pollution continues to degrade the waterway,” compounding problems for wildlife and fisheries (SeafoodSource / National Fisherman).

Bottom line: For two consecutive years, Maryland’s own ecological events and scientific surveys have contradicted their ASMFC delegates’ dishonest narrative that menhaden are absent. While Maryland delegates blame Virginia fishermen, the state’s unaddressed water-quality crisis continues to have negative effects on the menhaden in their waters, which the fish kills and surveys demonstrate are present in force.

About the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Feds to judiciary: US Wind permit should be vacated

September 19, 2025 — A top-level Interior Department official is backing up the federal government’s about-face on offshore wind energy by saying its prior approval of a Maryland offshore wind project downplayed potential impacts on ocean rescues, commercial fishing, and environmental concerns – and that the approval process may need to be scrapped and redone.

Adam Suess, an acting Interior Department assistant secretary who oversees the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), said that even after BOEM had approved construction and operations plans for the offshore wind farm by developer US Wind, his agency has a duty to keep checking whether the project really meets the law.

Agency officials under President Joe Biden’s administration “failed to account for all the impacts that the Maryland Offshore Wind Project may cause,” Suess wrote in a Sept. 12 filing, one attached to the same federal lawsuit that the Town of Ocean City is fighting against the Interior Department over offshore wind.

“As part of its ongoing review of the project, the department has initially determined that these impacts may not be sufficiently mitigated and, therefore, the project, as approved, is not preventing interference with other reasonable uses” of the outer continental shelf, the filing states.

While Biden’s Interior Department cleared the project last year, attorneys for the Trump administration now argue that those approvals were flawed. They said BOEM’s approval “was not properly informed by a complete understanding of the impacts from the project,” and that some impacts were “understated or obfuscated.”

Read the full article at OC Today-Dispatch