The U.S. Atlantic menhaden fishing industry and supporters of the sector, as well as detractors such as environmental groups, are preparing their final cases as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) gears up to discuss management measures at its annual meeting.
The ASMFC’s annual meeting is taking place 9 to 12 November, with discussions related to the menhaden management board taking place on 10 November. The board will consider final action on specifications for the 2027 to 2029 fishing years and a potential addendum to the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap, both of which have been the subject of intense debate in the months leading up to the meeting.
In the lead-up, the issue has garnered 48,000 public comments from individuals, organizations, and form letters; seven different public hearings; and pro- and anti-fishing campaigns from organizations up and down the U.S. East Coast.
Ahead of the meeting, fishermen from both Maine and Virginia appeared in a video produced by the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), calling for Atlantic fishermen to work together to ensure the total allowable catch isn’t reduced.
“I think we need status quo right now,” Jim Wotton, a commercial fisherman from Friendship, Maine, said in the video. “I think we leave it where it is, and we can work something out with the different sectors of the fishery.”
NEFSA said it is advocating for the ASMFC to maintain the current quota after a 20 percent reduction took effect in 2026. ASMFC approved that reduction in 2025, dropping the total coastwide quota to 186,840 metric tons (MT), down from 223,550 MT.
Opponents of the fishery have cited a decline in the population of osprey, along with lower catches in 2025, as an indication that the menhaden fishery is not sustainable. The American Bird Conservancy directly called for stronger protections for Atlantic menhaden over the osprey “breeding crisis” after recent studies showed 2026 was the worst year ever for the bird species in the Chesapeake Bay.
The conservancy said the fact Ocean Harvesters, the largest commercial fisher of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, couldn’t reach its harvest cap in 2025 is a sign of the Atlantic menhaden’s decline.
"If the industrial fishery can’t land enough menhaden to meet the harvest cap, lowering the cap is a no-brainer," American Bird Conservancy President Michael Parr said in a release.
The American Small Pelagics Network said that argument misses key facts. It said weather in 2025 featured an increase in rough conditions along the Mid-Atlantic coast, especially during the period spanning August through December, which is an “important period” for the menhaden fishery. Based on NOAA data, more days were impacted by poor weather in 2025 than on average, with some areas receiving gale-force or stronger warnings at rates 63 percent above average in 2025.
“These statements present the size of the catch as a measure of how many fish were available while leaving out the conditions that determine when fishing vessels can operate,” the American Small Pelagics Network said. “For people seeking to reshape a commercial fishery, that omission reveals an astonishing lack of understanding of commercial fishing.”
Ocean Harvesters again called for the ASMFC and fisheries managers to follow the science on the Atlantic menhaden fishery, which it said shows overfishing is not occurring.
Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) Director Derek Aday said the institute is actively researching the fishery, with funding from the state of Virginia’s recently approved budget, to better understand menhaden abundance.
“The Chesapeake Bay is too important to manage by assumption,” Aday said in a column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Ocean Harvesters CEO Monty Deihl said the company appreciates Aday’s leadership in fisheries science.
“The men and women who work on the bay want healthy waters, strong fisheries, and decisions grounded in sound science, and we are grateful to Dr. Aday and the scientists at VIMS and the Batten School for their commitment to finding answers,” Deihl said.
