Menhaden fisheries practices, sound or not?
Balancing Profit with Sustainability: Menhaden Harvests
REEDVILLE, VIRGINIA—In the current controversial matter of large-scale industrial netting of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay, how do regulatory bodies balance industry profitability with environmental conservation?
A private corporation in Reedville, Virginia, is harvesting massive quantities of menhaden—a small fish vital to the Chesapeake Bay's food web—as they migrate seasonally between the bay and the Atlantic Ocean. In the Chesapeake Bay, menhaden sustain populations of aquatic species, like striped bass and bluefish, as well as avian species, like osprey and eagles.
Menhaden populations in the Chesapeake Bay are being depleted according to environmental conservation groups such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Coastal Conservation Association, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, local Audubon chapters, and the Chesapeake Legal Alliance. This month, public interest groups filed suit against the Virginia Marine Resources Commission alleging the commission is violating Virginia Code § 28.2-203 by refusing to enact localized catch restrictions based on the best available ecosystem science. Currently under review is a proposal to cut the Chesapeake Bay harvest cap by up to 50% and spread the allowable catch more evenly across the season to mitigate localized ecosystem pressure.
The Omega Protein Corporation, located in Reedville, Virginia, uses spotter planes to locate large schools of menhaden. Boats then surround the schools deploying massive nets over 1,000 feet long—that’s the size of four football fields. Heavy cords at the bottom of the nets close like giant pouches to trap the fish inside before pumping the fish onto an industrial processing ship.
Omega Protein, owned by Cooke, Inc., a family-owned seafood and aquaculture company based in New Brunswick, Canada, has intervened to protect its harvesting interests. Omega asserts the population of menhaden is not overharvested according to a 2025 study by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). The study states the Atlantic coastal population of menhaden is not overharvested, but does not directly address the bay’s population. Omega processes the fish into fish meal for aquaculture, particularly for Cooke’s global salmon farming operations, as well as for livestock feed and pet food. The fish are also processed into fish oil for supplements and organic fertilizer.
ASMFC admits the 2025 study does not consider menhaden populations in the Chesapeake Bay as whole. Its models evaluate the entire Atlantic seaboard and do not make smaller, regional inferences about specific populations such as the Chesapeake Bay. Environmental conservation groups assert populations of osprey are starving and striped bass catches are closely linked to menhaden availability, prompting strict catch limits on bass. Watermen report that catching menhaden for crab pot bait has become increasingly difficult and expensive. Menhaden are an important part of the bay food web because they possess a rare combination of traits that allow them to unlock energy at the absolute bottom of the food chain and pass it directly to top predators. Menhaden swim through the bay with their mouths open, gaining nutrition through consumption of phytoplankton.
Omega harvests menhaden from several key locations in and around the bay. Near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, the Omega fleet harvests in ocean waters up to three miles offshore along the Eastern Shore and Virginia Beach coastlines (with the exception of a shoreline buffer zone fronting Virginia Beach). Inside the Chesapeake Bay, Omega harvests in the deep shipping channels near Reedville, fishing the waters surrounding Virginia’s Northern Neck and the waters stretching across to the Eastern Shore near, but not inside, Tangier and Pocomoke sounds, intercepting fish as they migrate past the mouth of the Potomac River. The fleet frequently targets the wide, expansive waters of the lower Chesapeake Bay, including areas near the mouths of the Rappahannock, York, and James Rivers. These nutrient-rich tributaries act as major nursery grounds where millions of younger menhaden gather. The southern boundary of their internal bay operations sits right where the Chesapeake meets the Atlantic Ocean. The fleet actively fishes near Cape Charles and the Eastern Shore shoreline.
Menhaden are an important fish because they serve as a critical foundation for both the marine food web and the commercial fishing industry. Each spring, menhaden larvae enter the Chesapeake Bay on natural ocean currents and are washed upstream into the shallows, nurtured all summer by bay grasses. In the fall, they migrate to the ocean in schools.
Every state along the U.S. Atlantic coast has banned industrial "reduction" netting of menhaden in its state waters—with the sole exception of Virginia.
Public hearings on the topic are being held now through October 1st with a public comment deadline of October 9th. The ASMFC Menhaden Management Board will review all aggregated science and public remarks during its annual meeting to cast the final vote on new harvest constraints during the second week of November.
Support Sustainable Menhaden Fisheries
To support sustainable fisheries, consider signing the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s effort to enact regulations that curb menhaden harvests to a sustainable level for the Chesapeake Bay.
Fleeting rings mark crab movement at the water's surface.
Do curious whorls in the Chester River spell trouble?
Curious whorls moving along the surface of the Chester River prompted investigation as we navigated our boat across glassy waters last weekend. The rings were easy to spot, although fleeting. Turns out they were liquid echoes left behind by the movements of crabs swimming near the surface. Many solo crabs, both male and female, and quite a few doublers paddled their backfins like oars along the upper water column, heading downriver.
We wondered what prompts crabs and other species (we also spotted pods of baitfish) to travel at the top of the water column where predation from birds and large fish leaves them vulnerable. Interestingly enough, there are several reasons why crabs might risk such dangerous travel.
CATCHING CURRENTS TO ESCAPE DEAD ZONES
This time of year, crabs travel along the surface of the river to escape hypoxic waters. Crabs need oxygen to survive. Dissolved oxygen levels are higher at the surface where atmospheric oxygen mixes with the water. As dissolved oxygen levels at the bottom of the water column become depleted, aquatic species must move toward the surface to escape dead zones.
How does the lower water column become hypoxic? Warm water together with nutrient pollution triggers algal blooms; as algae die and sink to the bottom, microscopic bacteria feast on the decomposing material. In the process, the bacteria consume dissolved oxygen in the lower water column, creating dead zones. The decomposition process releases gases that float to the surface. This explains why we saw so many tan-colored bubbles and foam on the river’s surface.
The Chester River and all its tributaries suffered declines in water quality resulting from agricultural, wastewater, and stormwater runoff, according to a 2025 report from ShoreRivers of Easton.
While crabs catch the current to escape dead zones, there are also other more natural reasons that explain why we might observe crabs swimming along the surface.
FOLLOWING THE FEMALE SCENT
For mating purposes, male crabs may swim along the upper water column in search of a female who is ready to molt into a mature crab (sook). Immature female crabs (sallies) release a strong breeding pheromone in their urine just before undergoing the final transition to maturity. Because these pheromones diffuse quickly in tidal waters, males use the upper water column and surface currents in the shallows to track the scent back to its source. Mating occurs during the brief window right after this molt while the female’s new shell is still completely soft.
CATCHING CURRENTS TO SAFE GROUNDS
Before mating can occur, a male crab must carry the female until she undergoes her final molt and her shell becomes completely soft. A soft-shelled crab is completely defenseless against predators, so the male uses tidal currents in the upper water column to transport the soft she-crab to local shallow shorelines to find a safe hiding spot until her new shell hardens.
CATCHING CURRENTS TO FEMALE SPAWNING GROUNDS
After mating, female crabs swim along the water’s surface to begin the journey toward the mouth of the bay where higher salinity waters promote successful development of eggs and early stage larvae. Females use surface currents to travel long distances, sometimes up to 150 miles. The lower Chesapeake Bay, specifically the deep, saltier channels between the Rappahannock River and Hampton Roads, serves as a critical spawning ground for millions of pregnant females (sponge crabs). Here, they overwinter and release their larvae into ocean currents. Maryland does not allow the harvesting of sponge crabs while under specific restrictions, Virginia does.
CATCHING CURRENTS FOR SEASONAL MIGRATIONS
As fall approaches, adult male crabs prepare for colder months by moving to deeper channels where they can overwinter in the mud, moving actively near the top of the water column for migration. Once water temperatures drop into the mid-50s, crabs seek the deepest mud flats and river channels where they bury themselves to go dormant for the winter.
CHESTER RIVER & ALL ITS TRIBUTARIES DECLINE IN WATER QUALITY
According to the.2025 report by ShoreRivers, the Chester River’s water quality index worsened from an already low score of 58% to 52%. Phosphorus levels — which continue to be the river’s largest threat — had seen a 14% improvement in 2024, declined by 11%. The most common source of phosphorus in the watershed is animal manure associated with agriculture, poorly performing septic systems, and improperly managed stormwater runoff. As water clarity declines, the risk of dangerously low oxygen levels increases.
HELP PREVENT DEAD ZONES
Stormwater, wastewater, and agricultural land management are essential to preventing nutrients from entering the bay. Everything we put on the land runs into the bay, so limiting fertilizers, properly disposing of animal waste, and reducing the use of cleansing agents that contain phosphates (phosphate-free prevents algae blooms) are small changes that add up to a big difference.
Planting natural buffer zones with trees, shrubs, and grasses lessens runoff. By the way, native plants don’t require fertilizers.
PASS ALONG HEALTHY NATURAL RESOURCES TO THE NEXT GENERATION: GET VERBAL
Let political representatives know how important a healthy bay is to our lifestyle! If your local river keepers and environmental centers are doing a good job, support them with a donation.
Pictured below, first row, from left: In the Chester River, a male crab carries a soft female crab along the water's surface while mating; close-up of mating blue crabs in the Chester River; bubbles and foam linger on the surface of the Chester River where a pod of baitfish swim close to the surface. Second row, from left: mating crabs; a whorl in the river indicates a surface swimming crab; a crab swims through foam and bubbles on the water's surface; Third row, from left: crab whorls created as backfins paddle across the water's surface; a school of baitfish at the surface of the Chester River; a male crab uses his backfins to propel himself across the Chester River's surface.
L. Rossbach, August 30, 2026.
Decline in Water Quality in the Chester River and All Its Tributaries
According to the 2025 report by ShoreRivers, the Chester River’s water quality index worsened from an already low score of 58% to 52%. Phosphorus levels — which continue to be the river’s largest threat — had seen a 14% improvement in 2024, declined by 11%. The most common source of phosphorus in the watershed is animal manure associated with agriculture, poorly performing septic systems, and improperly managed stormwater runoff. As water clarity declines, the risk of dangerously low oxygen levels increase.
