Atlantic Menhaden Reallocation Fight Heads Back to Fisheries Managers

Atlantic menhaden are not just bait. They are the groceries for striped bass, bluefish, tuna, whales, ospreys, and a pile of other saltwater life up and down the East Coast.

This fall, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is expected to consider whether to start a process to reallocate state menhaden quotas. The current system is still built heavily around historical landings, and more than 75 percent of the coastwide quota has been tied to Virginia, where the large reduction fishery turns menhaden into fish meal and fish oil.

Meanwhile, fishermen in New England are seeing big schools of bunker and more predators feeding on them, but bait suppliers, lobstermen, and other users often depend on set-asides and quota transfers. In the Chesapeake Bay, the picture looks different: concerns over fewer menhaden keep showing up around starving osprey chicks, weaker bait catches, and pressure on the Bay’s role as a nursery area.

That is why this allocation fight matters. Menhaden are a public resource. They should be managed for the whole coast, not locked into an old formula that may no longer match where the fish are, who depends on them, or what the ecosystem needs.

Good fisheries management is not anti-commercial and it is not anti-harvest. It is pro-resource. If the bait base gets treated like an endless industrial input, every predator fishery and every angler down the line pays for it. Managers need to hear from people who understand that bunker in the water is worth more than a spreadsheet built on yesterday’s landings.