Please do something about the lack of Menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay.  The reduction fishery is playing a vocabulary game with overFishing versus overfished.  They always say the Atlantic stock is healthy, which from Maine to Florida. It is, but our local supply in Virginia territorial waters has been lacking for years. This could be easily observed by the size of the Manhattan harvested. The average size is much smaller than it has been in the past, which indicates a population problem.  

It would be very easy to ban purse seining in the Chesapeake Bay for the reduction fishery. There are  plenty of menhaden in the Atlantic ocean from New Jersey to North Carolina that can be targeted.  They need to leave the nursery of the Chesapeake Bay alone.

Sincerely,

Craig Freeman