"The public will have the opportunity to weigh in on the potential changes ahead of board’s final decision this fall"
"The regional board overseeing menhaden management along the Atlantic coast on Wednesday advanced a measure to implement new restrictions on Virginia’s only reduction fishery that harvests the oily forage fish within the Chesapeake Bay.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s draft addendum would reduce the Bay-specific menhaden catch limits for the fishery, Ocean Harvesters, which contracts with Omega Protein. Other changes include harvest time period quotas to aid in menhaden migration.
Reduction fisheries catch menhaden in purse seine nets to then grind them up into fish meal and oil. Virginia is the only state that allows reduction fishing of menhaden within the Bay.
Currently, the Reedville-based Ocean Harvesters is allowed to catch 51,000 metric tons of menhaden within the Chesapeake Bay annually without any time period quotas. Last October , the menhaden management board voted to reduce the East Coast limit by 20% – bringing the catch limit to 186,840 metric tons for all fisheries, but leaving the Bay cap in place."
Shannon Heckt reports for the Virginia Mercury August 6, 2026.
SEE ALSO:
"Ospreys Struggling From Long Island To Chesapeake As Menhaden, A Vital Food Source, Become Scarce" (Newsday)
"Virginia Budget Funds Long-Awaited Research On Menhaden In The Chesapeake Bay" (WHRO)
https://www.whro.org/environment/2026-06-30/virginia-budget-funds-long-a...
