Menhaden are a crucial link in the marine food web.
Chesapeake Bay Menhaden: Can We Find the Balance Between a Sustainable Harvest and Overharvest?
CHESAPEAKE BAY—Is the Chesapeake’s food web exhausted? Are menhaden overharvested? Should the harvest be reduced, closed, or paused for more studies? A final decision for the 2027 season will be handed down in November by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission—and the public commentary period ends October 9.
Critics of the menhaden industry say entire sections of menhaden are depleted before they can reach natural migratory destinations in the Chesapeake, and that depletion is wreaking havoc with the marine food web including apex predators like striped bass and osprey. As evidence, they say:
- menhaden are a crucial link in the marine food web as a vital source of protein, fat, and Omega 3 fatty acids; menhaden swim with their mouths open, consuming phytoplankton and zooplankton, transferring vital nutrients to species higher up the food chain.
- industry harvests at the mouth of the Chesapeake prevent an adequate number of menhaden from entering the bay, creating a food deficit for bay species;
- industry harvests inside the bay prevent an adequate number of menhaden from reaching tributaries, creating a food deficit for bay species;
- along saltier reaches of the Chesapeake, osprey nesting failures have surged in numbers not seen since the DDT crisis; osprey diet is 75% menhaden;
- striped bass are suffering higher mortality and disease rates, a result of nutritional stress; menhaden constitute a critical portion of striped bass diet;
- bay watermen who catch menhaden for crab bait in pound nets report catches have plummeted by 70 to 80 percent, threatening their livelihood;
- current studies are ineffective and mask the bay’s depletion of menhaden.
Critics of the industry (environmental organizations, recreational angling groups, local watermen, and wildlife advocates) urge a precautionary pause or stricter caps on menhaden harvest until local studies are complete.
On the other hand, industry claims the menhaden fisheries is highly regulated and sustainable. As evidence they say:
- two core, concurrent 2025 reports published by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) found that Atlantic coast menhaden are not overfished;
- there is a lack of data proving the Chesapeake’s stock of menhaden is exhausted;
- a 2025 Maryland Department of Natural Resources study reveals juvenile menhaden in Maryland waters remain widespread and abundant;
- the menhaden fishery is already highly restricted by protective caps placed on the volume of fish harvested inside the Chesapeake Bay each year;
- warming water temperatures, shifts in natural migration timing, and broader avian health challenges are the root of osprey nesting failures.
- declines of striped bass and ospreys are driven climate-driven warming waters, poor spawning water quality, and exploding population of blue catfish; menhaden are being used as a convenient scapegoat for broader ecological failures in the bay;
- The menhaden industry is an economic engine for the region, supplying hundreds of well-paying jobs that should not be diminished until studies prove menhaden depletion.
Supporters of the menhaden industry (commercial and corporate operators, organized labor and local blue-collar workforce, local government and regional public officials) urge against harvest pauses or cuts until ongoing localized studies are completed.
A brief history of Atlantic Coast fisheries reveals resource economics and long-term sustainability exist in a fragile, never-ending balance. Most notably, the complete collapse of New England’s cod fisheries in 1992-93 and its enduring effects on populations of haddock and flounder. Despite decades of strict U.S. limits, cod remains ecologically collapsed while haddock and flounder show fragmented recoveries and re-collapses.
In the 1960s-70s along the northeast coast, the menhaden industry collapsed as a result of overharvesting, effectively wiping out the reduction factories in New England and leaving only a highly regulated pocket in the Chesapeake Bay. At the same time, overfishing of Atlantic mackerel off the U.S. coast led to a population crash. Today, the commercial mackerel fishery faces near-total closures and strict rebuild mandates. Other high-profile collapses resulting from overharvesting include 19th century collapses of Eastern oysters and Atlantic halibut.
The menhaden industry brings a variety of essential products to market. Menhaden oil—rich in Omega-3 fatty acids essential to heart health, brain and eye function, and for its ability to reduce inflammation—is found in supplements for human health and fishmeal for livestock feed and aquaculture, particularly salmon and shrimp farms. Menhaden is also reduced into fishmeal and fish oil for weaning piglets, broiler and egg-laying chickens, turkeys, and to a lesser degree, dairy cattle.
If there is a positive in this, it’s that we’ll get better at data collection and understanding the requirements that prompt migratory and juvenile species to flourish in localized ocean nurseries like the Chesapeake Bay. Menhaden migrate northward to Nova Scotia in large schools along the coast from wintering grounds in the south. Each spring, menhaden larvae enter the Chesapeake Bay on natural ocean currents and are washed upstream into the shallows where they spend the summer growing. In the fall, they migrate back to the ocean in schools. While we have the technology to track migrations and capture stocks with efficiency, where is the line between a sustainable harvest and overharvest, and can we stop at that line?
A proposal to reduce the menhaden reduction harvest in the Chesapeake Bay is under consideration and will be decided at the November meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) in Newport, Rhode Island. The proposal considers capping the harvest limit by up to 50 percent, establishing seasonal quota periods to space out the catch, and linking the Chesapeake cap to the Atlantic coast’s total allowable catch. The public is encouraged to leave comments at https://asmfc.org/actions/atlantic-menhaden-draft-addendum-ii/.
Public Comments Accepted Through October 9
A proposal to reduce the menhaden reduction harvest in the Chesapeake Bay is under consideration and will be decided at the November meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) in Newport, Rhode Island. The proposal considers capping the harvest limit by up to 50 percent, establishing seasonal quota periods to space out the catch, and linking the Chesapeake cap to the Atlantic coast’s total allowable catch. The public is encouraged to leave comments at the link below: https://asmfc.org/actions/atlantic-menhaden-draft-addendum-ii/.
