I support rulemaking to limit the Industrial harvest of Menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay. As stated in the petition, the reduction fishing industry is using purse seine nets that extend 50’ - 60’ feet down in areas of the bay that average between 20 and 30 feet.   Use of these purse seine nets by allows them to scrape the sea bottom causing massive amounts of SAV (Submerged Aquatic Vegetation) sea grass and other bottom growth to be destroyed.  The nets are designed to be used in Open waters where the deployed Purse Seine net is above the sea bottom.

There are reasons every other East Coast State has banned purse seine fishing in their state waters. The use of these nets in Virginia waters has gone on for too long with little oversight. Not only do these nets  destroy anything on the sea bottom they encounter, they also remove the primary food source for Striped Bass, Ospreys, other fish, birds, and mammals. 

Recent science shows striped bass are overfished and their decline can be attributed to lack of menhaden in their diet.  Recent science shows a reduction in the Osprey population again directly related to a lack of menhaden in their diet.  The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) says the coastwide stock of menhaden is healthy. ASMFC has no science on the stock of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay.  The industry says there is no science to support any menhaden harvest reduction in the Chesapeake Bay. I say there is not science to support the current level of menhaden harvest in the bay.

Accordingly, it is time to reduce the net size utilized in the Chesapeake Bay and/or removing the purse seine fishery from the Bay in its entirety.  I support either reducing the purse seine net size in Virginia Waters or moving this fishery to the ocean, but given a choice I support completely  removing this fishery from the Chesapeake Bay .