Atlantic States Commission Considers Cutting Chesapeake Bay Menhaden Reduction Fishery Cap by Up to 50%

ARLINGTON, Va. — Fisheries managers are considering significant new restrictions on the industrial menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay, including an option that would cut the fishery’s Bay harvest cap by as much as 50%.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board has approved Draft Addendum II to Amendment 3 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for public comment.

The proposal examines several potential changes to the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap, commonly known as the Bay Cap, including reductions of up to 50% and new rules intended to spread reduction fishing more evenly across the season.

According to the commission, the options are intended to address concerns that concentrated fishing effort may be affecting other Chesapeake Bay fisheries and potentially having broader ecological consequences.

Concerns over concentrated summer harvest

The commission said development of the draft addendum was prompted in part by declining pound-net harvest and catch-per-unit effort in the Chesapeake Bay in recent years.

Those declines have coincided with an increased concentration of reduction-fishery harvest during the summer months, raising questions about localized menhaden availability and possible effects on species that depend on the small, oily fish for food.

Menhaden occupy an important place in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coastal food web. They are consumed by striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, ospreys and numerous other predators.

Unlike fisheries that primarily harvest menhaden for bait, the reduction fishery catches large quantities of the fish for processing into fish meal and fish oil.

The Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery has been at the center of a long-running debate in Virginia over whether coastwide menhaden abundance adequately reflects the amount of forage available to predators within particular areas of the Bay.

Three quota periods among options

The draft addendum considers more than simply lowering the overall Bay Cap.

One set of options would link the Chesapeake Bay cap to the coastwide total allowable catch, creating a more consistent relationship between the amount of menhaden permitted to be harvested coastwide and the amount available to the Bay reduction fishery.

Another option would divide the Bay Cap into three separate quota periods during the fishing season.

That approach is intended to prevent too much of the allowable reduction harvest from being taken during the spring and summer, potentially leaving more menhaden available in the Bay throughout the season.

The commission said the proposals are designed to “alleviate a concentration of effort that may be affecting other fisheries within the Bay and other potential ecological impacts.”

The draft does not represent a final decision. Rather, approval by the board begins the public-comment phase before fisheries managers determine whether any of the proposed restrictions should be adopted.

Public hearings and comments coming

The commission is expected to issue a separate announcement detailing when Draft Addendum II will be available for public comment, along with a schedule of public hearings and instructions for submitting written comments.

Information will also be posted through the Atlantic Menhaden Draft Addendum II Action Tracker, and the commission plans to provide an online public-comment form allowing fishermen, conservation groups, industry representatives and other members of the public to respond to specific options contained in the proposal.

The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board is scheduled to review those comments and consider final action on the addendum during the commission’s Annual Meeting in November 2026 in Newport, Rhode Island.

Any decision could have particular significance for Virginia, where the Chesapeake Bay remains an important part of the Atlantic menhaden reduction fishery and where the ecological role of menhaden has increasingly become a focus of fishermen, conservation advocates, state officials and coastal communities.

For additional information on the draft addendum, the commission directs questions to Fishery Management Plan Coordinator James Boyle at jboyle@asmfc.org or 703-842-0740.

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Wayne Creed

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