Menhaden Decisions This Fall: Help Keep Our Coast Fed

Big decisions are coming for the “most important fish in the sea.” Here’s why they matter, what managers will decide, and how you can speak up.

An osprey catching a gizzard shad. Photo credit: Sue Allen

​Bunker Feed the Coast
 
Have you ever seen a patch of rippling ocean that looks like wind moving across the water? Or a flock of birds circling and diving in one place? You may have been watching a school of bunker.
 
Atlantic menhaden, also known as bunker, are schooling fish that fuel our coastal food web.

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Menhaden connect plankton at the bottom of the food web to the fish and wildlife people see, catch, and care about. As they move through estuaries and along our coasts, they feed striped bass, bluefish, tuna, gannets, ospreys, whales, and many other predators. They also support recreational fishing, bait fisheries such as crabbing, charter businesses, and bird- and whale-watching tourism. Other forage fish, including blueback herring, have declined, making healthy menhaden populations and careful management more important than ever.
 
This November, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the interstate body that manages menhaden, will decide how many fish may be caught along the coast and whether to strengthen protections in Chesapeake Bay. The American Littoral Society is urging our ASMFC representatives to support limits that leave enough menhaden in the water for wildlife, fisheries, and coastal communities. Public comments on the Chesapeake Bay proposal are due October 9. Read on to learn more.

A school of bunker. Photo Credit: Sue Allen

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​Why Industrial Harvest Deserves Scrutiny
 
Menhaden support two commercial fisheries. The bait fishery supplies anglers, crabbers, and lobster fishermen. The much larger industrial “reduction” fishery turns menhaden into fishmeal and oil used in products such as animal feed and supplements. The Atlantic Coast’s only remaining menhaden reduction plant is Omega Protein’s facility in Reedville, Virginia. According to ASMFC documents, this single company harvests about 67% of the entire coastwide quota. The size and concentration of this industrial harvest have led many groups to call for an end to the reduction fishery.
 
This November, ASMFC will consider new restrictions because such concentrated harvest may leave fewer menhaden for predators and other fishermen.

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Tagging a striped bass, one of the species that rely on bunker as a food source

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​Why the Reduction Fishery Quota Should Be Lowered
 
The latest stock assessment found that scientists had overestimated the menhaden population by an average of 37%. In other words, there were fewer fish than managers thought. Because catch limits were set using that inflated estimate, managers should now reduce fishing pressure and leave more menhaden in the water for the predators that depend on them.
 
ASMFC created an ecological reference point, or ERP, to limit fishing pressure and leave enough menhaden as food for predators, especially striped bass. Yet when managers set the 2026 catch limit, their projections showed a 100% chance that fishing pressure would exceed the ERP target. Although the Board recognized the need for a substantial cut, it chose a higher quota because of concerns about making a large economic change in one year. As a result, managers knowingly adopted a catch limit that was projected to miss their own ecosystem goal.
 
Ospreys provide another warning sign. Observations along the coast have documented declining reproductive success. Research published this year found widespread breeding problems among Chesapeake Bay ospreys and identified reduced menhaden availability as a likely primary cause.
 
Taken together, this evidence supports limits on industrial harvest while maintaining a sustainable bait fishery.

Scientists are now documenting poor nesting success in parts of Chesapeake Bay, New Jersey, New York and other areas. Reduced Atlantic menhaden availability is a suspected cause.

More Reasons We Need Stronger Protections for Menhaden
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• More bunker can mean better fishing. NJ Fish & Wildlife said strong striped bass fishing in 2022 was partly due to large, reliable schools of menhaden staying along the coast longer.

 

• Menhaden support jobs and the regional economy. A  2026 study estimated that fishing trips using menhaden as bait, chum, or scent generated $804 million and supported 7,270 jobs.

 

• Chesapeake and Delaware bays help feed the coast. Young menhaden usually spend their first year in estuaries before joining adult schools in the ocean. This makes these bays important nursery areas for the wider coastal food web.

 

• Bluefin tuna can rely heavily on bunker. Among Atlantic bluefin tuna sampled off North Carolina in the winter of 2004–2005, menhaden made up nearly 99% of the prey by weight.

 

• Many New Jersey osprey nests are failing. In 2025, Researchers reported 57% of monitored active nests produced no young. Researchers reported food shortages as well as weather-related challenges. Osprey in Jamaica Bay, New York, are also declining

 

• Much of the Chesapeake Bay industrial catch happens in a short period. In both 2023 and 2024, the reduction fishery took more than half of its annual Bay harvest in about six weeks during midsummer.

 

• One industrial fishery takes most of the coastwide quota. The reduction fishery takes over 67% of the entire coastwide menhaden quota, and about half of that catch comes from Chesapeake Bay.

Several species of marine mammals, including whales, rely on the presence of large schools of menhaden

​Two decisions must work together to leave more menhaden in the water.
 
1. Protect menhaden in Chesapeake Bay. The Bay is an important nursery for young menhaden. As these fish migrate, they help feed coastal waters from New Jersey and New York to other parts of the Atlantic Coast.
Draft Addendum II would set how many menhaden the reduction fishery may catch in Chesapeake Bay and when that fishing may occur. We support cutting the Bay’s reduction-fishery cap by at least 50%, spreading the allowed catch more evenly across the season, and reviewing the cap at least once every three years. We also support keeping a separate limit for Chesapeake Bay instead of automatically tying it to the coastwide quota.
 
2. Reduce total catch along the entire coast. We support lowering the coastwide total allowable catch, or TAC, to match the updated science. The revised assessment found that the average estimate of menhaden biomass (the total weight of fish in the population) was 37% lower than previously believed. This means managers had been setting catch limits based on an inflated estimate of how many fish were available.
 
ASMFC established an ecological reference point, or ERP, target for fishing pressure to account for menhaden’s role as food, particularly for striped bass. Yet when managers set the 2026 catch limit, their projections showed a 100% probability that fishing pressure would exceed that target. The Board chose a larger quota, citing concerns about the economic effects of a substantial cut in one year. Managers knowingly adopted a limit projected to fall short of their own ecosystem goal.
 
A year has passed, and managers now have an opportunity to correct that decision. We support cutting the coastwide catch limit by more than 50% from the 2026 level. We also urge managers to choose a limit with a better-than-even chance of meeting ASMFC’s ecosystem target.

Menhaden are crucial to the recreational fishing and ecotourism industries

​Speak up by October 9
You do not need to be a fisheries expert to participate. Tell managers why healthy coastal waters matter to you.
 

• Send a comment: Email [email protected] with the subject “Atlantic Menhaden Draft Addendum II and 2027–2029 Catch Limits.” Include your name, your state, your personal connection to the issue, and why stronger protections matter to you. Ask managers to cut the Bay’s industrial harvest cap by at least 50%, spread the allowed harvest more evenly across the season, and make a substantial coastwide catch reduction that meets ASMFC’s ecosystem target.

 

• Use the survey: Follow ASMFC’s public-comment instructions and ASGA’s option-by-option guide can help you understand the choices before you respond.

 
Submit your comments by the October 9, 2026, the deadline for public input on Addendum II.
 
More bunker in the water means more food for the coast we love. Help us make that the priority this November.