Saving Seafood

W&M’s VIMS & Batten School partner with NOAA to expand access to shallow water mapping data in the Chesapeake Bay

July 15, 2026 — A new partnership between William & Mary’s VIMS & Batten School and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) turns routine vessel operations and lost crab trap removal into a new source of valuable bathymetric data.

Bathymetry describes the depth and shape of the seafloor relative to a known elevation reference and is essential to understanding and managing coastal environments. Accurate bathymetric data are foundational to a wide range of scientific, planning and management applications, including coastal resilience, hurricane and storm surge forecasting, sediment transport, habitat mapping, fisheries management and navigation safety. Bathymetry data is a valuable tool, particularly in shallow, nearshore areas that are difficult and expensive to map using traditional methods.

The collaboration was formalized through the recognition of VIMS & the Batten School as a “Trusted Node,” a designation by NOAA and the International Hydrographic Organization acknowledging reliable partners for collecting, processing and submitting bathymetric data for public use. Only 16 other organizations worldwide have been awarded this status.

Read the full article at EurekAlert!

Editorial: Menhaden study should provide data needed for bay management

July 10, 2026 — Menhaden may be a relatively small fish but they have an outsized presence in ongoing debates about the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The menhaden industry and environmental groups have sparred for years over what constitutes sustainable fishing and how the annual catch affects the critical ecosystem on which so much depends.

By including $2 million in the recently approved state budget for a neutral and clear-eyed study of menhaden, Virginia lawmakers hope to provide the data needed to chart a thoughtful path forward. This is long overdue, and both sides of the debate are right to celebrate this important step by the commonwealth.

Prized for their energy-rich oil, Atlantic menhaden play a central role in the Chesapeake ecosystem, as they have done since long before Europeans settlers arrived here centuries ago. They eat plankton and small plants that improve the water quality while also serving as a primary food source for other bay animal and marine life, from striped bass to ospreys to whales.

Read the full article at The Virginian Pilot 

Virginia proposes $2 million in funding for menhaden study

June 29, 2026 — On the heels of the Virginia General Assembly approving a $205 billion biennial budget on June 22 without including funding for the menhaden study, Governor Abigail Spanberger proposed adding amendments that include $2 million for the menhaden study.

Spanberger’s amendment states “out of this appropriation, $1 million will go towards the (menhaden) study the first year and $1 million the second year from the general fund and is designated for Atlantic menhaden research and reporting.

“This funding shall be used for Atlantic menhaden research necessary to inform a scientifically defensible and ecologically meaningful Chesapeake Bay harvest cap,” the amendment states.

“This report will be generated by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in collaboration with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), and with the cooperation of relevant stakeholders, including recreational anglers, the reduction and bait fishery sectors, and non-governmental organizations. VIMS will create an annual proposal to draw from this funding until delivery of the final report that provides an approach to setting a scientifically defensible Chesapeake Bay harvest cap.

“The development of this approach may be informed by research on (i) the seasonal abundance of Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay; (ii) the movement rates of Atlantic menhaden between the Atlantic coast and the Chesapeake Bay; (iii) the impacts of predator (e.g. striped bass, osprey, and other species) demand and consumption of Atlantic menhaden on the Atlantic menhaden population; (iv) the spatial and temporal patterns of the Atlantic menhaden commercial fishing effort in the Chesapeake Bay; (v) and the possibility of localized depletion of Atlantic menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

VIRGINIA: Statement by Monty Deihl, Ocean Harvesters CEO, on Governor Spanberger’s amendments restoring funding for Virginia Chesapeake Bay menhaden study

June 26, 2026 — “We are extremely pleased that Gov. Abigail Spanberger has announced her intention to send budget language to the General Assembly that includes a study of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay. We look forward to continuing to work with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in collaboration with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) to develop a scientific study of the Bay’s Atlantic menhaden population.

We were especially pleased to see that the ongoing work being funded by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS), a National Science Foundation-supported cooperative research center, will be available to support the study. The SCEMFIS-funded researchers from VIMS, NOAA, and the Univeristy of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have already provided a great deal of scientific guidance as part of their roadmap project to identify the research needed to support a science-based Bay harvest cap. We hope the Virginia General Assembly will adopt the Governor’s amendment, and we look forward to working with stakeholders involved in the process.

Last, we are also very grateful to the legislators who have worked to help ensure that jobs are protected and the study is based on sound scientific data.”

 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: Major menhaden harvester pushes back on claims it opposed funding for menhaden researc

June 25, 2026 — Menhaden processor Omega Protein and menhaden harvester Ocean Harvesters are both pushing back after an environmental NGO laid the blame for a lack of funding for research in Virginia’s two-year state budget.

A proposed research initiative for menhaden would have provided USD 1 million (EUR ) per year for two years to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in order to develop scientific research on the species, and a scientifically justifiable Chesapeake Bay harvest cap. Under current regulations, the menhaden quota in the Chesapeake Bay is 51,000 metric tons (MT), but that total is based on average landings of menhaden and not a biological reference point.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Shark research effort still has bite after 50 years

November 14, 2025 –Aboard this 65-foot vessel, nothing much happens most of the time. The VHF marine radio crackles with mundane chatter. The Atlantic Ocean ebbs and swells. Below deck, crew members resort to playing Uno.

Then, everything happens all at once.

After four hours of “soaking” in ocean currents, the baited fishhooks are ready to be reeled in. A huge winch squeals to life, winding in the mile-long fishing line. Just below the surface of the water, a ghostly silhouette flickers into view.

It has arrived — the day’s first shark.

“Up!” several voices call in unison, an instruction to raise the hammock-like gurney six or seven feet to the boat’s railing. The sandbar shark nearly thrashes free, but two gloved hands show up just in time to gently, but firmly, coax the giant fish to stay put.

“That was a very alive one,” said Samuel Ruth, a few minutes after returning the shark into the waters where the ocean mingles with the Chesapeake Bay.

his is catch-and-release with a higher purpose. During the minute or two that the shark is out of the water, Ruth and his colleagues race to record vital information — its sex, length and weight (if it’s small enough to fit on the scale). The whirlwind of activity also includes collecting a DNA sample, affixing an ID tag below its dorsal fin and snapping photos to aid in future identification.

For more than five decades, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s shark research group has worked to pull back the veil on these mysterious creatures. Their research has helped protect sharks from overfishing, documented how they respond to climate change and shed light on their not infrequent appearances in the Chesapeake Bay.

The work is crucial for understanding sharks themselves as well as the marine ecosystems they inhabit, said Jameson Gregg, a senior marine scientist at VIMS.

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

SCEMFIS funds new project to study menhaden in Chesapeake Bay

October 27, 2025 — As debate over the sustainability of the menhaden fishery in the Chesapeake Bay continues between the fishing industry and environmental groups, the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCEMFIS) has funded a new project that will create a detailed roadmap for managing reduction fishery more effectively.

SCEMFIS said in a release the new project will feature scientists from Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and NOAA and aims to establish meaningful harvest caps for Atlantic menhaden in the bay. The project will review existing menhaden science – including estimated biomass, migration patterns, and the consumption of menhaden by other species – and find gaps in information that can be filled via more research.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Bay scallops in Virginia were extinct. Now, they’re ‘multiplying exponentially.’

Octobr 16, 2025 — An “unprecedented resurgence” in bay scallops in Virginia could soon open the door for recreational fishing of the species, said scientists at William & Mary’s Batten School and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Until the 1930s, Virginia held a significant chunk of the scallop industry — even hosting the largest bay scallop fishery in the country. Then, within three years of the population’s peak in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay waters in 1930, scallops were nearly extinct, according to a VIMS report from 2017. A wasting disease killed eelgrass, the habitat for the scallops, and essentially led to the steep decline. The scallop harvest peaked before wildlife managers noticed any issues with the grass. In response, harvesters turned to clams and the bay scallop population never recovered.

About 10 years ago, though, VIMS researchers began bringing back the shelled creatures, releasing larvae, juvenile and adult scallops into the Chesapeake Bay. Work on restoring underwater grasses in the area had already begun in the early 2000s, and by the time research on scallop restoration started, scientists had restored about 6,000 acres of underwater meadows. According to VIMS, it is the largest and most successful seagrass restoration in the world. It represents “a significant societal and ecological achievement,” said Richard Snyder, director of VIMS’s Eastern Shore Lab.

Read the full article at The Virginian-Pilot

Lobsters face serious risks as oceans heat up

October 6, 2025 — The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost every other ocean region on Earth. That single fact has scientists worried about the future of the American lobster, the backbone of a two billion dollar fishery.

Warming, acidification, and marine heatwaves are not just abstract trends here. They are daily realities, reshaping one of the most iconic species in New England waters.

Communities along the coast depend on lobsters not only for income but also for identity. A shift in lobster health could ripple far beyond science labs and touch entire economies.

To understand what lies ahead, researchers at William & Mary’s Batten School and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) have been testing how lobster embryos respond to future ocean conditions. The results point to temperature as the main danger.

Read the full article at Earth.com

VIRGINIA: Stone crabs are calling Virginia waters home — for the first time ever

August 28, 2025 — The Chesapeake Bay might have a new resident, thanks to warming waters and successful habitat restoration.

Blue crabs are the typical catch in local waters. But crabbers on the bay have reported adult stone crabs in their pots on Willoughby Spit, marking the first time the species has been spotted growing in Hampton Roads.

The find could mark an exciting addition to the crab industry in the Chesapeake Bay, according to Rom Lipcius, a researcher and professor at William & Mary’s Batten School at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Read the full article at The Virginian-Pilot