Stock assessment of menhaden is based on regional data as I understand the current state of the population. I also don’t think that a Chesapeake Bay-wide study has been conducted for examining local extraction impacts by the Omega Protein purse seine industry. But what is undisputed is the documented valve of menhaden in the Bay as a key ecological driver within the ecosystem. What is also undisputed is the intense commercial exploitation of menhaden within the Bay. I have personally witnessed this activity at the mouth of the Rappahannock River in May, 2022 where six menhaden purse seiners, with the aid of a spotter plane, were decimating menhaden schools in an area of only a few square miles. (I have photos of 4 of out of six purse seine boats and other anecdotal information of this event while I was sailing in the area and had to take an alternate approach to our destination because of the intense trawling in the area.)There is no doubt that this fishery is highly efficient because menhaden populations are confined geographically and spotter planes allow the directed encircling of menhaden aggregations the extent that it has severe impacts on the menhaden population within the Chesapeake Bay. Such activities would be far more difficult in the open ocean, and therefore those activities would have a disproportionately greater impact on local populations.

Peer reviewed scientific evidence indicates the importance of menhaden to osprey population nesting success and suggests that depleted populations can have a highly consequential effect on reproductive success. Furthermore, testimony from recreational and commercial fishers, though anecdotal, also point to the decimation of menhaden in the Bay as evidenced by declining and diseased predatory fish populations. Collectively, there seems to be consensus that the menhaden population is experiencing a major local decline in the population within the Bay.

The economic considerations in this issue focus primarily on the industrial extraction benefits for jobs but don’t include ecosystem services provided by a healthy and ecologically diverse Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Such benefits include healthy fisheries populations which depend in part on a robust menhaden population. Indirect effects of a healthy menhaden population likely also include the reduction of low oxygen zones in the Bay.

Omega Protein has deep pockets as evidenced by the six lobbyists working on their behalf in the Commonwealth legislature. And they are also well connected politically through their political donations. It’s time for VMRC to consider the common sense strategy proposed in this petition which reflects the extensive will of those not directly connected to Omega Protein. What is Omega Protein afraid of and what is the problem with looking into this matter for once and for all. It’s a no brainer and a common sense approach to understanding the real dynamics of the extraction fishery on menhaden population dynamics in Chesapeake Bay!