I am writing in support of an immediate moratorium on menhaden harvesting with purse seines in the Chesapeake Bay until the end of September to give this year's osprey offspring a chance of survival.  Menhaden are an essential source of nourishment for their coming fall migration.

The Center for  Conservation Biology has been tracking steady declines in osprey populations for fifteen years, and 2023 represents the lowest nest survival rate since the era of DDT.  The center attributes this disturbing trend to over-harvesting of prey species, primarily Menhaden.

The health of the Bay ecosystem should not be at the mercy of special interests. Good environmental policy must rest on solid science, not politics. Please act now to protect the Bay's natural resources and initiate the regulatory process to ban purse seine fishing in the shallow waters of the lower Chesapeake Bay.