Your support is urgently needed for long-overdue major restrictions on the Virginia-based slaughter of tens of millions of individual menhaden a year. Thousands of osprey chicks in higher-salinity waters of bay country are dying slow, horrible deaths from starvation because of corporate greed decimating the ospreys’ major food supply — the Atlantic menhaden (also called alewife or bunker).
These oily calorie- and protein-dense forage fish are the major food for adult and young ospreys in tidal bay reaches.
Hearings are set along the Atlantic coast for the public to weigh in on whether to greatly reduce the huge harvest of menhaden in the Chesapeake by as much as 50% and to spread that harvest more evenly throughout the fishing season to allow enough summer menhaden for ospreys, other birds and fish.
Virginia allows large commercial ocean purse seine vessels using high-capacity netting techniques to scoop up entire schools of menhaden in the water after scout planes find the schools and smaller vessels circle the fish in vast nets. Maryland banned such harvest techniques more than 50 years ago. Omega Protein’s contracted fleet has been known to exceed its quota. Virginia is the only state along the Atlantic coast that still permits such an industrial reduction fishery, located in Reedville, Virginia.
The reduction facility processes the whole fish by cooking, pressing and separating them into fish meal, used as high-protein feed for aquaculture (farmed fish) and livestock. Menhaden are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and used in human dietary supplements. Cooke Inc. of Canada purchased the U.S.-based Omega Protein in 2017 for $500 million. Cooke operates as a fully integrated global seafood and aquaculture corporation that controls every stage of production from freshwater hatcheries to consumer distribution, including for Atlantic salmon.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), a 13-state coastal interstate body that regulates near-shore fishing for migratory species, has been under pressure to end or greatly reduce this industrial harvest for decades. Omega Protein and Virginia have done all in their power to block any tighter regulations by the ASMFC or the state. Their governors and elected officials, both Republicans and Democrats, have been plied with hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations over the last 20 years. Even legislation to study the Chesapeake menhaden population had been blocked by the Virginia legislature.
In August, the ASMFC finally voted to “consider” whether to adopt meaningful reductions, including up to a maximum of a 50% cut. This vote will take place at its November meeting after hearing from the public. This does not mean they will do anything to change the current harvest cap of 51,000 metric tons. That equates to roughly 112.4 million pounds of fish or about 150 million fish.
But we all have a chance to weigh in and force the ASMFC to act. Your opportunity comes from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. this Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the Annapolis High School Auditorium. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission will host.
The Osprey were hard at work today at the beach. According to AI, the mothers are gone:
Fall Migration (Heading South)- Late August: Adult females are the first to leave their breeding grounds.
- September: Juveniles and failed breeders head south during this month.
- September to October: Adult males are the last to leave because they stay behind to feed the young until they can fish on their own. Most birds reach Central or South America by late fall
Eye on Annapolis, Severn River Osprey Reproduction Plummets for Second Consecutive Year
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