ASMFC Votes to Reduce Menhaden Harvest and Limit Chesapeake Bay Catch

“ASMFC failed to follow its own ecosystem science when it mattered most,” Will Poston said in a statement Thursday.

This week, an East Coast fisheries board approved reductions to the overall menhaden harvest over the next two years and introduced a cap restricting bay-caught baitfish to a specific percentage of the cumulative total for the first time. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to lower the total allowable catch from 187,000 metric tons to 170,000 metric tons next year, followed by a decrease to 150,000 metric tons the year after, while establishing a 21.8% limit on the Chesapeake Bay harvest relative to the total catch.

Maryland delegates on the board felt the decision fell short, noting how vital menhaden are as a fundamental food source at the bottom of the estuary’s food web. Declines in striped bass and osprey populations, which rely heavily on menhaden for sustenance, may be linked to a scarcity of the baitfish.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation voiced disapproval of the board’s choice to reduce the coastwide catch limit by 9% next year, pointing out that internal data suggested a 39% reduction was necessary to sustain the fishery.

“We are extremely disappointed with other states and the federal agencies that once again folded on true ecosystem-based menhaden management,” Poston, forage fisheries campaign manager at the Bay Foundation, said in a statement Thursday.

Virginia pushes back

Virginia opposed the more aggressive reductions proposed by Maryland, noting that its reduction fishery collects the vast majority of menhaden as they migrate from the ocean into the bay. Commonwealth representatives argued that insufficient scientific evidence exists to justify harvest limits that could jeopardize jobs within the reduction industry. Earlier this year, legislators in Virginia authorized a study examining the bay’s menhaden population, which has just commenced.

“We’re begging you to please wait until the recently funded research is complete, so we can have time to provide a data-driven case before we act,” Virginia Del. Adele McClure said during Wednesday’s portion of the multiday commission meeting.

Bay Foundation advocates asserted that existing Chesapeake fishing statistics provide ample proof of the estuary’s dwindling baitfish populations. Poston said during a news conference Thursday that declining pound-net menhaden harvests and catch-per-unit-effort show there are far fewer menhaden in the bay than in previous years, and studies showing ospreys struggling to find food for their chicks are impossible to ignore.

Public comment and legislative push

The commission’s annual meeting, featuring delegates from federal agencies and Atlantic coastal states, concluded months of negotiations regarding proper regulations for the menhaden industry. The public feedback initiative for the menhaden strategy attracted 48,320 submissions originating from across the entire Eastern Seaboard.

Commission feedback assessments indicated that the majority of respondents favored a bay ceiling of 13.6% of the overall harvest, frequently highlighting worries about how dwindling menhaden supplies might affect osprey populations. In September, a bipartisan coalition of 29 Maryland legislators likewise urged that the bay harvest be restricted to 13.6% of the cumulative coastal catch, though that proposal was defeated in Thursday’s vote.

“While we are encouraged by the decision to reduce the industrial menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay by a third, we are disappointed that the Commission failed to take stronger action coastwide,” Del. Dylan Behler (D-Anne Arundel) and Sen. Sara Love (D-Montgomery) said in a joint statement on Thursday.

Economic impacts on both sides

Menhaden are harvested near the Chesapeake’s entrance using massive purse seine nets operated by a single enterprise, Ocean Harvesters, preventing the fish from migrating further into the bay. Omega Protein, a separate entity, processes these catches into fish meal and fish oil.

Although Maryland lacks a reduction industry and has prohibited purse seine menhaden fishing in its bay waters since before the 1950s, small quantities continue to be caught locally for bait. Virginia delegates cautioned that heightened restrictions could endanger hundreds of positions linked to menhaden catching and processing activities. According to a press release issued by the firms, Omega Protein and Ocean Harvesters represent Northumberland County’s largest commercial employers in Virginia.

“These affect our union workers, African American and other minority fishermen, processing employees and families, as well as businesses throughout the Northern Neck,” Monty Deihl said in a statement.

During Wednesday’s session, Allison Colden, who leads the Bay Foundation’s Maryland office, maintained that diminished bay populations have already caused a drop in the number of Maryland commercial fishers utilizing pound nets to gather menhaden for bait.

Colden said they have gone from 100 pound-netters to 10 pound-netters to now maybe two who are perhaps putting in one net, meaning economic impacts in Maryland have already happened and people have already lost their jobs because of the lack of availability of menhaden to Maryland fishermen.

Quotas and future research

Detractors of the board’s 2028 harvest ceiling of 155,000 metric tons emphasize that actual industry landings reached only 147,000 metric tons back in 2025. Attributing the 2025 totals to unfavorable weather, Deihl warned that coastwide restrictions could create greater hardships in subsequent years.

“If we have a good weather season next year, unlike 2025, these lower quotas will mean lost fishing opportunities and real hardship,” Deihl said.

Mike Luisi, a Maryland ASMFC delegate who oversees fishing and boating operations for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, advocated for a bay harvest limit beneath 20% of the total, but ultimately backed the 21.8% threshold out of consideration for industry concerns.

“I believe that this option is the middle ground that we should all be able to agree to,” Luisi said.

A previous letter from Maryland lawmakers also suggested dividing the harvest season into three distinct windows, allocating 25% of the allowable catch to each of the first two intervals and 50% to the final one.

Colden said that scheduled harvesting could benefit bay fisheries and predators significantly, but the proposal failed on Wednesday when only Maryland voted in favor. Joseph Grist maintained that concentrating half of the Chesapeake Bay allocation into the period between mid-September and mid-November would present significant challenges due to the frequency of autumnal storms and hurricanes.

“There’s a crew safety issue here,” said Grist, who serves on the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

“It’s proof that Maryland and Virginia can still work together,” Grist said with a chuckle regarding the agreement to revisit menhaden quotas in three years when more data is expected to be available.

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