Save Menhaden, Save the Chesapeake Bay

Menhaden are one of the most important fish in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic Coast. Despite their critical importance to the Bay's ecosystem, they are facing extreme threats from industrial fishing that could have drastic impacts on the Bay ecosystem, our economy, and way of life.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is considering major changes to how the menhaden reduction fishery is managed inside the Bay through a document called Draft Addendum II. If you care about a healthy Chesapeake Bay, ASMFC needs to hear from you today! Join CBF in calling on the ASMFC to approve conservation-minded strategies that leave more menhaden in the Bay before the October 9 comment deadline!

Menhaden feed the Bay's iconic critters such as striped bass, bluefish, red drum, osprey, whales, and dolphins. But here in the Bay, warning signs are intensifying. Osprey rely on menhaden for food, but their chicks are starving to death at unprecedented rates; small scale fishermen that catch menhaden for blue crab bait have seen catch rates decline sharply; new coastwide menhaden estimates point to a much smaller population; and Chesapeake Bay menhaden science remains woefully inadequate.

CBF supports reducing the Bay Cap by at least 50 percent in 2027 and limiting the Cap to 13.7 percent of the total coastwide catch, which would leave millions of menhaden in the water to support the ecosystem; and implementing quota periods to more effectively distribute menhaden harvest throughout the year and mitigate against impacts of concentrated menhaden removals by the reduction industry.

Implementing these options will better protect menhaden and support a healthy Chesapeake Bay ecosystem now and for generations to come. Join us in showing your support for these changes today!

Thank you for standing with us as we work to protect this critical fish in the Bay.