Riding on a wave of momentum from an earlier legal ruling (read below) the Chesapeake Legal Alliance (CLA), and the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization (SMRFO) have just announced a detailed and powerful rulemaking petition for the consideration of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) to enact.
This petition seeks relief in the menhadens’ harvesting practices and regulations. Science, empirical evidence, and observations tell us that our Bay’s ecosystem is in danger if we continue with the current rate of menhaden harvesting. This petition ensures the beginning of sustainability in the Bay’s ecosystem.
These proposed recommendations were announced via Press Release on December 12, 2023, and seek the following relief:
- Enact a moratorium in the Bay: Set a precautionary moratorium on purse seine landings by the menhaden reduction fleet within the Chesapeake Bay.
- Require no less than 40% of harvest from federal waters: Set a limit of no more than 60% of current purse seine menhaden landings within Virginia waters (approximately 91,800 metric tons).
- Codify a 1-mile shoreline buffer: Establish a permanent 1-nautical mile shoreline buffer along Virginia’s shoreline prohibiting the use of menhaden purse seines.
- Fund and implement a menhaden population study: Implement and enhance the Atlantic Menhaden Research proposal to investigate localized depletion and its impacts on the Bay (VIMS, October 1, 2023).
- Establish proper industry oversight: Require increased vessel and landings monitoring and reporting to ensure compliance and reduce bycatch and impacts on Bay habitats.
As mentioned above, this petition follows an earlier lawsuit by the Chesapeake Legal Alliance (CLA) on behalf of the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization challenging Virginia’s management of large-scale commercial fishing for menhaden.
This past September the VMRC brought a motion to dismiss the case. In his ruling,
Richmond City Judge Richard B. Campbell overruled VMRC’s Demurrer and Motion to Dismiss in part. While Judge Campbell found that VMRC did not err when it promulgated menhaden regulations outside of the required rulemaking period, he held that CLA’s claim that VMRC ignored the statutorily required conservation and management standards had merit and should continue. This includes the VMRC’s failure to promote conservation and equitable allocation, or to consider the best scientific, economic, biological, and sociological information available when promulgating its recent regulation. Judge Campbell is allowing the case to move forward citing that the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization “sufficiently pleaded facts upon which relief can be granted.”
Often referred to as the most important fish on the Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic Menhaden are preyed upon and are a staple to the striped bass, weakfish, and bluefish, and by birds such as the ospreys and eagles. Menhaden play a critical role in marine ecosystems as a forage species, providing a vital link between lower and higher trophic levels. Menhaden are also crucial in nutrient cycling because their filter-feeding activities remove excess nutrients from the water column. They help maintain water quality and prevent deadly eutrophication, or an oversaturation of runoff resulting in lack of oxygen to aquatic life. Data supports that the near demise of menhaden in localized areas of the Chesapeake Bay that have ravished and continue to threaten our fisheries and wildlife.
Impact on wildlife “worse than DDT era” – Mr. Michael Academia
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, on the Lower Chesapeake Bay, the Center for Conservation Biology documented the highest rate of osprey nest failure ever recorded in the Bay. Only 17 of 167 nests monitored during the season produced any young. The poor reproductive performance documented during 2023 is a trend that has been observed for the past 15 years. The Center believes that this trend is propelled by the by the overharvest of the Atlantic menhaden.
Mr. Michael Academia, Osprey Researcher with the Center for Conservation Biology, who won the 2022 William Andersen Award at the International Raptor Research Conference for his research involving ospreys and the localized depletion of Atlantic menhaden in the Lower Chesapeake Bay, is sounding the alarm bell. “As a biologist, we only deal in best data and our data shows a drastic level of decline of ospreys in the Lower Chesapeake Bay, worse than the DDT era. Since 2021, productivity rate is approaching zero. The depletion of the menhaden in Virginia waters has direct impacts throughout the Chesapeake Bay which includes Maryland,” said Academia.
Tragic trends in Maryland
In 2019 on Poplar Island, Maryland there were more than 50 young ospreys produced in 28 nest platforms. Sadly, 4 years later in 2023, there were only 3 osprey chicks that survived in 2 nest platforms out of 28 pairs attempting to nest.
“Osprey populations throughout the Chesapeake Bay – especially in the more brackish Maryland waters like the lower Patuxent, have been showing signs of significant nest failures. Many nestlings are dying, apparently due to starvation, and some to other factors like the weather,” stated Greg Kearns, an expert with forty years of experience installing nest platforms and studying osprey nesting behavior on the Patuxent River.
Mr. Chris Eberly, Director of Programs for Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake and formerly Executive Director of the Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership, had this to say: “It took decades for the Osprey (and Bald Eagle, pelican, and falcon) to recover from the effects of DDT. Now once again their existence is threatened in the Chesapeake Bay by humans. For those of us who love the Bay and its unique diversity – birders, fishers, and boaters – Invest too much in protecting and restoring the health of the Chesapeake to allow the unsustainable harvest of any of the Bay’s resources to continue.”
Juvenile Striped Bass Population
Striped bass populations in recent years have witnessed a concerning decline. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources submitted emergency regulations in late November 2023 to protect the species’ spawning population. “The menhaden are the rockfish’s primary food source, and we are seeing less and less menhaden in the Bay year over year,” said recreational fisherman, Mr. Bob Wagner “If we need the trophy rockfish to come into the bay consistently, our menhaden numbers need to increase. The decline of rockfish on the Bay cannot and must not be attributed to the recreational anglers, and charter boats; science tells us the real culprit is over-harvesting,” said Wagner.
Omega Protein Corporation
Located in Reedville, Virginia, Omega Protein Corporation, owned by Cooke, Inc. a Canadian multinational, harvests hundreds of millions of pounds of menhaden every year. Omega has the last remaining menhaden reduction factory on the East Coast, where the fish are processed and shipped worldwide to their other operations.
“The reduction fishery – a single company on the Atlantic coast – is permitted to take over 345 million pounds of menhaden (that’s roughly 3/4 of a billion fish) each year. This fishery is a key public resource, and yet every year the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) fails to protect the fishery, and the Bay, by allowing the reduction fishery to take the maximum possible catch every year, without limiting that harvest by even a single fish.” Said Will Halnon, Staff Attorney for Chesapeake Legal Alliance, through a statement.
Menhaden are harvested to produce fish meal (animal consumption) and specialty oils for human consumption. “The economics of the menhaden fishery run counter to good public policy: the reduction fishery is owned by a single foreign-owned company, and the earnings and profits are veiled.” Said Halnon.
Virginia politics is for Poutine LOVERS
Tim Anderson, R-Virginia Beach introduced a bill which was killed earlier this year wherein he proposed that foreign owned corporations be prohibited from making political contributions. Perhaps this is because Omega makes a generous donation to each incoming gubernatorial inaugural committee.
What Virginia has done, was pass a flighty bill of legislation. It inevitably deports the striped bass and the osprey out of their home, Chesapeake Bay region, for the foreseeable future. “The recent bill passed to create a plan to study menhaden discusses this crisis as merely the possibility of a problem. It’s not even a study, it’s a plan to develop a study; a 3-year, 3-million-dollar punt. While the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and the reduction fishery collaborate on this for the next 3 years, they’ll also be spending 3 million dollars of taxpayer money simply to explore how and whether to study the collapse of the most important fishery in the region. Even this ethereal ‘plan’ is speculative – it has yet to be funded. And while they’re doing this, or not doing it, the reduction fishery will have siphoned-off and ground-up roughly 1 billion pounds of menhaden Indicated David Reed – Executive Director, Chesapeake Legal Alliance through a statement.
Education matters
Education on this matter is of high importance, and there are many ways in which concerned citizens and agencies throughout the Mid-Atlantic can learn more. The Maryland Osprey and Nature Festival www.marylandospreyfestival.org has a powerful platform for education and conservation efforts.
“We are pleased to announce that The Maryland Osprey and Nature Festival, whose pillars are education, conservation, and celebration will be held on Saturday, April 6 in Lusby, MD. While all our educational speakers have not been confirmed, we are pleased to announce that Mr. Michael Academia will be our keynote speaker, and that The Chesapeake Legal Alliance will also participate.” Said, Michele Hall a member of Festival’s BOD. “We stand behind and endorse the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization and the Chesapeake Bay Alliance to preserve the Chesapeake Bay’s precious resources; our wildlife and fisheries,” said Hall.
Mr. Kyle Smithers, a young professional angler based in Solomons, MD said “The Bay can have a bright future, we just need to help by not over-harvesting on the supply/source level. The actions that we take now will determine the viability of the Bay for the next 20 to 30 years.”