Saving Seafood

Atlantic menhaden board takes steps to limit controversial harvest in the Chesapeake Bay

November 11, 2026 — Virginia’s representatives on the Menhaden Board raised concerns Wednesday about potential impacts of cuts on the Northern Neck economy, and argued the commission should wait to consider changes until at least 2028, when preliminary results are expected from a recently funded study of menhaden in the bay by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Getting accurate science has become the heart of the debate over managing the fishery.

Industry officials say there’s no evidence that menhaden are being overfished, pointing to assessments by the Atlantic fisheries commission. Environmental groups say coastwide data could obscure a localized decline in the Chesapeake Bay.

“We’re developing the science now,” Joe Grist, who sits on Virginia’s Marine Resources Commission, said Wednesday.

By the board taking action before the results, “we are now risking the very science we’ve already started on to inform this board of the very things you want to know,” Grist said. “What a waste of the public funds.”

Read the full article at WHRO

 

“It Reaches the Kitchen Table”: Northern Neck Families Warn of Human Cost of Menhaden Restrictions

November 9, 2026 — The following was released by the Ocean Harvesters:

A new video puts faces and voices to the families who could pay the price if the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) imposes additional restrictions on Chesapeake Bay menhaden fishing.

At a September 19 public hearing in Heathsville, Virginia, fishermen, union members, educators, health care workers and other Northern Neck residents told regulators what is at stake: paychecks, health insurance, children’s education and the future of a community built around the water.

 

Watch the video here

“If these jobs are lost, the impact does not stop at the dock. It reaches the kitchen table,” said Merthia Haynie of the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Neck.

Darawn Kenner, a fourth-generation fisherman and chief shop steward for United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400, described what a menhaden fishing job has meant to his family. It helped him put one daughter through medical school and another through a master’s program in social work.

Kenner warned that proposed restrictions could cost nearly 100 union members their jobs. “These jobs are vital to this community,” he told regulators.

For families in a rural community where good jobs with benefits are difficult to replace, the loss of a paycheck can mean much more than a temporary setback. It can mean losing health coverage, falling behind on a mortgage, putting a child’s education at risk or leaving the place generations of a family have called home.

“I’ve spent years taking care of patients without adequate health insurance, and I know what happens,” said Tamara Hall, a nurse practitioner. “Losing a job is frightening. Losing health insurance that comes with it can be life changing.”

The menhaden fishery has supported Northern Neck families for generations, including a heavily unionized workforce with deep roots in the region’s African American community. Its economic reach extends beyond the docks and processing plant to local businesses, schools and the families who depend on them.

Cassidy Lewis-Bergert, senior human resources manager for Ocean Harvesters, told the hearing that the company’s Reedville operations directly employ 250 people and provide employees with health insurance and other benefits. Those employees, she said, live in the community, raise their families there and spend their earnings locally.

The consequences are personal for fishermen such as Curtis Haynes, an Omega Protein employee who has worked 21 seasons in the fishery.

“We need Omega to keep us employed, to keep us feeding our families,” Haynes said.

The NAACP Virginia State Conference has also called for protecting menhaden workers and their families. In an October 20 letter to Gov. Abigail Spanberger, President Rev. Cozy Bailey urged Virginia to maintain the existing Chesapeake Bay harvest cap and fishing season flexibility while the state-funded research is completed. Bailey emphasized that these jobs provide African American workers and union families with wages, health insurance, retirement benefits and the ability to remain in communities where their families have lived and worked for generations. Comparable jobs, he warned, cannot simply be assumed to exist if those jobs disappear.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has warned that African American workers, union families and rural communities could be disproportionately affected by additional restrictions. In a letter to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, the civil rights organization urged decision-makers to consider the workers and families whose lives are at stake, along with sound science, environmental stewardship and economic justice.

UFCW Local 400 has called on lawmakers and the ASMFC to refrain from imposing further Chesapeake Bay menhaden restrictions until ongoing research establishes their necessity. The union says working families must have a voice in decisions affecting their livelihoods and that conservation and workers’ rights belong together.

The ASMFC’s latest assessment found that Atlantic menhaden are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The commission has already reduced the coastwide catch limit by 20 percent. Now, under Draft Addendum II, it is considering options that include reducing the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap by as much as 50 percent and imposing seasonal quota periods.

Before imposing another restriction that could cost workers their jobs and damage an entire community, regulators should complete the Chesapeake Bay research and demonstrate that the measures are necessary and will achieve their intended result.

As Haynie told the commission, the consequences will be felt far beyond the dock. They will be felt at kitchen tables throughout the Northern Neck.

About Ocean Harvesters

Ocean Harvesters owns and operates a fleet of more than 30 fishing vessels in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of America. The company’s purse-seine fishing operation is exclusively engaged in the harvest of menhaden, a small, nutrient-dense fish used to produce fish meal, fish oil, and fish solubles. Both its Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden fisheries are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Committed to responsible fishing operations, Ocean Harvesters is proud to be heir to a fishing legacy that extends nearly 150 years.

Virginia Menhaden Fishery Welcomes VIMS Dean Derek Aday’s Call for Science to Guide Chesapeake Bay Decisions

November 6, 2026 — Dr. Derek Aday, director and dean of William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences, has offered a thoughtful and timely call for rigorous, unbiased science to guide decisions about Atlantic menhaden and the Chesapeake Bay.

In a column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Aday described how research supported by Virginia’s newly approved budget will help scientists and managers better understand menhaden abundance, their availability to predators and fishing patterns in the Bay.

“The Chesapeake Bay is too important to manage by assumption,” Aday wrote.

“Dr. Aday has put the focus exactly where it belongs: on rigorous, independent science that can give decision-makers the information they need,” said Monty Deihl, CEO of Ocean Harvesters. “We appreciate his leadership and his recognition that these decisions affect both the Chesapeake Bay and the lives and livelihoods of coastal Virginians. The men and women who work on the Bay want healthy waters, strong fisheries and decisions grounded in sound science, and we are grateful to Dr. Aday and the scientists at VIMS and the Batten School for their commitment to finding answers.”

His message deserves the attention of everyone participating in the menhaden debate. Aday brings scientific expertise, a commitment to independent research and an appreciation of the stakes for Virginia’s fisheries and coastal communities. His clear explanation of why reliable data matter offers a constructive path forward for the Bay and the people who depend on it.

Aday’s leadership and the work at VIMS and the Batten School are welcome. His call for rigorous, independent science reinforces why policymakers should allow the research supported by Virginia, the federal government and the menhaden industry to be completed before imposing further restrictions on a fishery that supports working families and communities across the Northern Neck—especially since Draft Addendum II does not establish a biological problem that its proposed restrictions would solve.

Aday points to the long-term research behind the management of blue crabs and the restoration of eelgrass and bay scallops as examples of the value of establishing baselines, measuring results and letting evidence guide decisions. His column makes a compelling case for bringing that same commitment to the questions surrounding menhaden.

The menhaden industry has invested directly in finding answers. Through the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS), the industry supports a research roadmap identifying practical methods and studies that can produce the information needed for a scientifically defensible Chesapeake Bay harvest cap. Scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, VIMS and NOAA are reviewing existing research and developing approaches for filling information gaps. That work, and the separately funded federal research and the Commonwealth of Virginia’s investment in VIMS research should be completed and their findings considered before additional restrictions are enacted.

The families who fish and process menhaden have a direct stake in the outcome. Their future depends on a healthy Bay, thriving fish and birds, and a sustainable fishery they can pass on to their children and grandchildren. For generations, the fishery has supported union jobs, wages and benefits for Northern Neck families, including many African American workers.

In a letter to Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Virginia NAACP President the Rev. Dr. Cozy Bailey urged the Commonwealth to maintain the existing Chesapeake Bay harvest cap while Virginia-funded scientific research is completed. He emphasized that the fishery provides wages, health insurance, retirement benefits and stability for African American workers and union families, and that comparable jobs cannot simply be assumed to replace them.

UFCW Local 400, which represents menhaden fishermen, has called on lawmakers and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to refrain from additional Chesapeake Bay restrictions until ongoing research establishes their necessity. The union has also called for working people to have a voice in decisions affecting their livelihoods and communities.

Aday’s commitment to healthy waters, strong fisheries and decisions grounded in sound science is an example for everyone involved in the menhaden discussion. His leadership, and the work of scientists at VIMS and the Batten School, will help provide the answers needed to guide the Bay’s future.

About Ocean Harvesters

Ocean Harvesters owns and operates a fleet of more than 30 fishing vessels in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of America. The company’s purse-seine fishing operation is exclusively engaged in the harvest of menhaden, a small, nutrient-dense fish used to produce fish meal, fish oil, and fish solubles. Both its Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden fisheries are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Committed to responsible fishing operations, Ocean Harvesters is proud to be heir to a fishing legacy that extends nearly 150 years.

‘We’re All Commercial Fishermen’: Maine and Virginia Stand Together on Menhaden

November 5, 2026 — The following was released by the American Small Pelagics Network:

Fishermen from Maine and Virginia are standing together in support of a healthy Atlantic menhaden fishery, calling on fisheries managers to maintain the coastwide quota after a 20% reduction took effect this year.

In a new video, produced by the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), Maine fishermen Dustin Delano and Jim Wotton join Ben Landry, a spokesperson for the Virginia menhaden reduction fishery, to discuss what menhaden mean to fishing families and working waterfronts along the Atlantic Coast.

“We’re all commercial fishermen,” says Wotton, a fisherman from Friendship, Maine. “I think we need to stick together. We need to work together.”

The video comes as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) prepares to consider Atlantic menhaden quotas for 2027 and beyond. The Commission’s latest assessment found that the coastwide stock is not overfished and that overfishing is not occurring. Its ecological approach to management accounts for the needs of predators that depend on menhaden.

The ASMFC reduced the coastwide quota by 20% for 2026. When it adopted that quota, the Commission projected a 0% probability of overfishing in 2026.

Wotton says fishermen need time to see how that reduction plays out before managers consider another cut.

“I think we need status quo right now,” he says in the video. “I think we leave it where it is and we can work something out with the different sectors of the fishery.”

Menhaden provide bait for New England lobstermen. In Virginia’s Northern Neck, the reduction fishery supports fishing families and a community whose connection to the water spans generations.

“If you’ve not been to the Northern Neck of Virginia, the menhaden facility there and the fishing operations is the lifeblood of the Northern Neck,” Landry says in the video. He warns that severe restrictions would reach beyond the boats and affect families in a rural coastal community where other jobs are not always available.

Delano, chairman and chief strategist of NEFSA, says fishermen rely on a healthy fishery for their future.

“Fishermen rely on these fisheries for future generations,” Delano says. “But we need to take advantage of this fishery when it’s here.”

The fishermen are asking managers to maintain the quota and give the people who depend on menhaden a voice in decisions about the fishery’s future.

Watch the video: NEFSA: Maine and Virginia Stand United on Menhaden

Sources

About the American Small Pelagics Network
The American Small Pelagics Network represents fishermen, processors, suppliers, and coastal communities connected to fisheries such as menhaden, mackerel, herring, squid, and butterfish. ASPN supports sustainable fisheries management that supports critical fish species, while maintaining economic opportunities for fishermen and fishing communities.

UFCW Local 400 Statement on Proposed Chesapeake Bay Menhaden Cuts

October 28, 2026 — The following was released by UFCW Local 400:

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 is calling on lawmakers and fisheries regulators to protect the livelihoods of hundreds of working families in Virginia’s Northern Neck as they consider additional restrictions on Atlantic menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay.

This call comes after an October 9 congressional letter, led by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Representative Sarah Elfreth (D-MD), urged the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to impose further restrictions on the fishery before ongoing scientific research into Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden populations has been completed.

UFCW Local 400 represents the fishermen working in the menhaden fishery who depend on the industry for stable union jobs, wages, and benefits. These workers, many of whom are African American, have long been part of the social and economic fabric of Virginia’s Northern Neck.

According to the ASMFC’s latest stock assessment, Atlantic menhaden are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The Commission has already reduced the coast-wide catch limit by 20 percent this year, while additional research remains underway.

Working families should not be forced to bear the economic consequences of decisions made without a full understanding of their impact. UFCW Local 400 members recognize the importance of protecting the Chesapeake Bay and maintaining sustainable fisheries for generations to come. Environmental stewardship must go hand in hand with economic justice and meaningful consideration of the communities whose livelihoods are at stake.

Our members have demonstrated their commitment to responsible fishing practices and the long-term health of the Bay. As documented in Local 400’s reporting on Ocean Harvesters, members have worked within regulatory catch limits and supported the sustainable management of menhaden populations. In our 2025 video featuring union fishermen, workers spoke about their responsibility to the ecosystem and the importance of preserving the fishery for future generations.

Their commitment extends beyond environmental stewardship to protecting lives on the water. In 2020, UFCW Local 400 members rescued six people after their boat caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean near the Maryland-Virginia line. Their actions reflect the deep connection these workers have to the waters they navigate every day and the communities they call home.

For generations, union fishing jobs have provided a pathway to economic stability in Virginia’s Northern Neck. Further restrictions could threaten not only individual livelihoods, but also the economic security of families that have long depended on the industry.

Conservation and workers’ rights should not be treated as competing priorities. Any decisions about the future of Menhaden must be grounded in rigorous research that is informed by the workers whose lives will be affected and accountable to the communities that depend on these jobs.

UFCW Local 400 urges lawmakers and the ASMFC to refrain from imposing additional Chesapeake Bay menhaden restrictions until ongoing research can establish their necessity. Working people should have a voice in decisions that shape their livelihoods, their communities, and their futures.

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United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 Union represents approximately 35,000 workers in the grocery, retail, cannabis, health care, food processing, service, and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. ufcw400.org

1,267 workers, community members push back on menhaden cuts

October 26, 2026 — The pushback against additional restrictions on Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden fishery is growing ahead of a key November vote, with more than 1,200 industry employees and community members urging fisheries managers to reject further cuts.

A total of 1,267 people submitted letters during the public comment period asking the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to reject further reductions to the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap and mandatory seasonal allocations. The comments come as new juvenile menhaden survey data and concerns about the economic consequences of additional restrictions add to an already contentious management fight.

The signers included 386 industry employees and 881 community members. Three letters representing menhaden workers, residents of Virginia’s Northern Neck and people outside the region opposed options in Draft Addendum II that could cut the Bay Cap by as much as 50%, link it to the annual coastwide total allowable catch or divide the cap into seasonal quota periods.

The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board is expected to consider final action on Draft Addendum II during the ASMFC Annual Meeting in November.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

1,267 Workers and Community Members Urge Menhaden Board to Reject New Chesapeake Bay Restrictions

October 21, 2026 — The following was released by Ocean Harvesters:

A total of 1,267 menhaden industry employees and community members submitted letters during the public comment period asking the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to reject further cuts to the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap and mandatory seasonal allocations.

The signers included 386 industry employees and 881 community members. They signed three letters representing menhaden workers, residents of Virginia’s Northern Neck, and people outside the region who recognize the fishery’s broader economic importance.

The three letters described a fishery whose economic reach extends well beyond the vessels and processing plant. The fishery supports workers and local businesses, contributes to the coastwide bait sector and supplies products used by other industries.

All three letters opposed the options in Draft Addendum II that would cut the Bay Cap by as much as 50%, tie it to the annual coastwide total allowable catch or divide it into seasonal quota periods.

The letters made six central points:

 1. The proposal has not demonstrated the need for new restrictions

Draft Addendum II does not establish a demonstrated Bay-specific biological problem, show that the existing Bay Cap has failed, connect the reduction fishery to a Bay-specific biological problem or demonstrate that the proposed restrictions would produce a biological benefit. The addendum’s own statement of the problem acknowledges that there are not enough scientific data to fully describe menhaden abundance and distribution throughout the Bay or determine the influence of fishing pressure.

2. The Bay Cap was precautionary, not a scientifically calculated biological limit

The Bay Cap began in 2006 while managers pursued research into possible localized depletion. It was later reduced from 109,020 metric tons to 87,216 metric tons in Amendment 2 and then to 51,000 metric tons in Amendment 3. Amendment 2 states that the cap was not based on a scientifically quantified harvest threshold, fishery health index or population-level study.

3. The funded Bay-specific research should be completed first

Virginia has committed $2 million over two years for research needed to inform a scientifically defensible and ecologically meaningful Chesapeake Bay harvest cap. The federal government has committed another $2.5 million, while industry-supported projects are developing a research roadmap and testing tagging technology. The letters urged the Board to allow that work to produce the needed evidence before imposing another major restriction.

4. The evidence does not establish that the reduction fishery caused the reported problems

The 2026 Chesapeake Bay osprey study reported reproductive deficits and signs of food stress in higher-salinity areas, but it does not establish that commercial menhaden harvest caused the reduced prey availability or reproductive problems. The study states that there is no fishery-independent monitoring of adult menhaden in the Bay and that the data needed to evaluate the relationship between harvest and adult menhaden abundance are not available.

The ASMFC’s Maryland pound-net analysis likewise showed different catch-rate patterns in 2023 and 2024 and identified limits on what can be inferred from those data. Those results do not establish that the reduction fishery caused the changes.

5. Seasonal allocations could disrupt fishing, processing and jobs

Employees warned that seasonal allocations could leave vessels and the processing plant idle during productive summer weeks and push more work into less dependable fall conditions. The addendum’s economic analysisacknowledges potential harm if seasonal restrictions limit periods of high catch efficiency or interrupt steady processing.

Employees also explained why access to the Bay matters. Rough offshore weather can prevent crews from seeing the schools they locate by sight or catching enough fish to keep the plant operating. Fishing in the Bay is safer, uses less diesel and gets crews home sooner.

The ASMFC’s Committee on Economics and Social Sciences has also warned that the industry must maintain a minimum operating volume and that falling below it could potentially result in a complete facility shutdown. That would affect fishermen, processing and manufacturing employees, union families, suppliers, local businesses and the surrounding Northern Neck community. UFCW Local 400 describes a heavily unionized, multigenerational workforce that includes one of Northumberland County’s largest minority workforces.

6. The economic consequences would extend beyond the Northern Nec

The letters from outside the region emphasized that the industry supports businesses, workers and customers across Virginia and in other states. The fishery supplies bait used by commercial and recreational fishermen, while the reduction fishery produces fish meal, fish oil and fish solubles. NOAA Fisheriessays these products are used in aquaculture and that refined menhaden oil is used in nutritional supplements for people.

Together, the 1,267 signers asked the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to reject further Bay Cap cuts and mandatory seasonal allocations. They urged the Board to complete the funded research, establish the problem and show that a proposed restriction will improve the outcome before putting additional jobs and communities at risk.

The Board is expected to consider final action on Draft Addendum II at the ASMFC Annual Meeting in November 2026

About Ocean Harvesters

Ocean Harvesters owns and operates a fleet of more than 30 fishing vessels in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of America. The company’s purse-seine fishing operation is exclusively engaged in the harvest of menhaden, a small, nutrient-dense fish used to produce fish meal, fish oil, and fish solubles. Both its Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden fisheries are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Committed to responsible fishing operations, Ocean Harvesters is proud to be heir to a fishing legacy that extends nearly 150 years.

Matt Strickler’s menhaden argument leaves working Virginians out of the picture

October 19, 2026 — I am an African American union worker in Virginia’s menhaden fishery. When former Natural Resources Secretary Matt Strickler reduced this debate in the pages of this newspaper to the interests of “one foreign corporation,” he left people like me out of the picture.

The menhaden fishery is a workplace. UFCW Local 400 represents fishermen in the Reedville fleet, and the fishery supports hundreds of family-supporting union jobs in Virginia’s Northern Neck. Our union members are second-, third- and fourth-generation fishermen whose livelihoods depend on this work. My fellow workers are not an “industry,” as Strickler labels us. They are Virginians supporting families and communities.

Strickler’s column gives those workers almost no attention. Instead, he writes that the company “doesn’t give a lick about Virginia” and describes the fishery as an operation that “vacuum[s] up” the base of the bay’s food chain. That rhetoric makes it easier to overlook the people who would live with the economic consequences of additional restrictions.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has raised that concern directly. In a letter to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, SCLC said the issue involves environmental responsibility, rural economic life, labor, wages, race and the dignity of work and warned that African American workers, union families and rural communities could be disproportionately affected. Those workers should not simply disappear from the discussion.

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

VIRGINIA: With three menhaden fish studies funded, Reedville asks state managers to hold off on catch cuts

September 23, 2026 — Virginia is among the 15 states commissioned to manage fisheries along the Atlantic Coast. There are now three studies set to look at commercial fishing and other impacts on menhaden, a schooling fish with both ecological and industrial importance. The Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission is considering slashing the commercial catch and spread out fishing days in the Chesapeake Bay.

The majority of that catch goes to the Reedville-based Canadian company that turns the fish into a variety of products. The fleet and factory sustains the Northern Neck community. So, the commission went there to hear them out.

On Saturday morning, 439 people, many with babies and kids in tow, gathered at the Northumberland County school auditorium to ask the fisheries commission to wait for the science. There were teachers, a grocery store manager, and a museum director, but mostly families of those who work for Ocean Harvesters fishing fleet and factory workers for Omega Protein.

Those who spoke, patiently stood in line, some for two hours, waiting their turn for 3 minutes before officials from the commission. Among them was 13-year-old Charlotte Blackwell and her brother Dawson.

“Our dad is a fishboat captain and we have many family members who also work in this industry,” Charlotte told the board. “My question for this board, what bay-specific science shows that another reduction is necessary? Right here at Northumberland Middle School, we are taught how science works. We are taught to ask questions, examine evidence, separate facts from opinions and let the evidence lead us to the conclusion. Please hold yourselves to that same standard.”

Read the full article at WHRO