I support this petition for rulemaking. The Chesapeake Bay menhaden stock includes a high percentage of juveniles as a result of the spawning cycle. The intense harvesting of the Bay stock by Omega for that company's economic convenience takes many juveniles resulting in a higher take in numbers of fish than would otherwise occur if the fleet were targetting mature fish off the coast. The Omega fleet Chesapeake Bay harvest also locally depletes the biomass that is a critical forage species stock for striped bass which is also severely stressed. The regulations requested by the petition will assist in the conservation of menhaden in Virginia waters, and by doing so, also support rebuilding the striped bass stock. I encourage VMRC to establish the regulations requested by the petition.