Atlantic States Schedule Hearings on Menhaden Bay Cap Options

Atlantic menhaden are small fish with a big job, and managers are again taking public input on how much industrial reduction harvest should be allowed in Chesapeake Bay. If you fish the coast, you should understand why this baitfish keeps coming up.

Atlantic coastal states from Maine through Virginia have scheduled hearings on Draft Addendum II to Amendment 3 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. The draft considers options to reduce the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap by up to 50 percent and spread that cap more evenly through the season.

The stated concern is concentration of reduction harvest in the Bay, especially during spring and summer, and possible effects on other fisheries and menhaden predators. The addendum also includes options to link the Bay Cap to the coastwide total allowable catch and split the Bay Cap into three quota periods.

Menhaden are forage. Stripers, blues, weakfish, birds and a whole stack of coastal predators depend on bait being where bait is supposed to be. That does not mean every harvest is bad. It means harvest has to be managed with the food chain in mind, not just tonnage on paper.

Public hearings will be held in several formats, including in-person, hybrid and webinar options. The details matter because fisheries policy is built in rooms most fishermen never walk into. If anglers want healthy predator fisheries and accountable forage management, they need to pay attention before the rules are already written.