December 13, 2024 — A widely publicized study pointing to a shortage of Atlantic menhaden as the cause of osprey nest failures in the Chesapeake Bay has come under fire from a trio of Virginia fisheries scientists.
The study, published in January by researchers with the College of William & Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology, linked a drastic decline in osprey reproduction in Virginia’s Mobjack Bay with a drop in the availability of menhaden, the migratory fish that once made up the bulk of the birds’ diet. They said ospreys are having fewer young and more chicks are dying in the nest for lack of food than in decades past. They suggested that the commercial menhaden harvest be limited to sustain ospreys, also known as fish hawks.
That research report, written by center director Bryan Watts and five co-authors, gave credence to complaints by conservationists and sports anglers about large-scale commercial menhaden harvests in the Bay. Those groups have long contended that a Virginia-based fishing fleet operated by Omega Protein has been depleting menhaden stocks in the Chesapeake, depriving Atlantic striped bass and other fish of a vital source of forage.