In response to growing concerns about the ecosystem, the board that regulates the Atlantic menhaden industry took action Wednesday to reduce the amount of fish that can be harvested in the Chesapeake Bay and along the East Coast.
After a marathon two-day meeting, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to link the Chesapeake Bay harvest cap to the total allowable catch, or TAC, the maximum amount of menhaden that can be caught coastwide.
The Menhaden Board established the cap as an automatic percentage of the TAC, meaning that no more than 21.8% of all menhaden caught along the East Coast can come from the bay.
The board also voted to slightly reduce the TAC by about 17%, phased over the next two seasons.
Virginia is allocated 75% of that total because it's the last East Coast state that permits menhaden reduction fishing.
The Chesapeake Bay harvest cap, first established in 2006, is set at 51,000 metric tons, or about 112 million pounds.
This week’s tweaks will bring the ceiling down to 33,847 metric tons by 2028. The board adopted an additional measure to ensure the cap would not exceed 51,000 metric tons even if the TAC were to be raised in the future.
Virginia’s representatives on the board voted against all of the changes.
Sportfishers and environmental groups believe the menhaden industry is contributing to declines in local species such as osprey and striped bass by removing the fish they rely on to eat. Bait fishermen in Maryland also say their catches of menhaden have plummeted.
The companies Omega Protein and Ocean Harvesters, meanwhile, argue there is no scientific evidence to warrant reductions, and that the changes would devastate their business, including jobs on Virginia’s rural Northern Neck.
The Atlantic commission manages fisheries in 15 states, from Florida to Maine.
In August, commissioners approved a draft addendum with a range of options for managing the menhaden fishery in the bay, including cutting the cap by up to 50% and spreading the harvest more evenly throughout the season.
Over the past few months, the body received more than 48,000 written public comments, and more than 860 people showed up to a series of impassioned in-person hearings.
Groups on both sides continued to trade messaging leading up to this week’s meeting.
The nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation noted that Ocean Harvesters pulled in less than 70% of the current catch limit in the Chesapeake Bay in 2025.
“These results mean that the most technologically advanced fishing fleet on the East Coast couldn’t find enough menhaden to catch its limit,” the nonprofit wrote in a news release.
Industry groups quickly pushed back, saying the catch numbers reflected a higher-than-average number of severe weather days during the 2025 season that prevented fishing boats from getting on the water.
Ocean Harvesters, which operates a fishing fleet to supply Omega Protein, collects menhaden by using large walls of netting called purse seines. Omega then processes, or “reduces,” them into fishmeal and fish oil at a plant in Reedville.
Other Atlantic states allow fishermen to catch menhaden only as bait.
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.”
Others said they were acting on data that shows the ecosystem needs help.
“I heard over and over again from public commenters about just how valuable the Chesapeake Bay is as a nursery for menhaden, but also for other species,” said Connecticut board member Rob LaFrance. “I believe that we need to do a strong level of conservation in the nursery that supports these fisheries.”
The commission agreed to revisit the Chesapeake Bay harvest cap every three years.
