Virginia fishermen call on President Trump to protect menhaden in Chesapeake Bay

Bunker or menhaden fish, seen while whale watching off Long Beach, N.Y. (Photo by Vicki Jauron, Babylon and Beyond Photography via Getty Images)

A group of anglers is calling on President Donald Trump to sign an executive order to protect menhaden, a protein-rich forage fish, from overfishing, which they say has led to the species’ declining population and puts the food chain in the Chesapeake Bay at risk. Reliable data on how menhaden harvests impact other species in the bay is not available, despite multiple attempts to fund a state-level study.

“So at this point, we’ve had enough. It is time for strong executive action to put America first by protecting these important forge fish,” said Steve Atkinson, chairman of the Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association.
 ”Leave them in the water where they can fulfill their ecological role and protect Virginia’s billion dollar recreational fishing economy.”

Virginia is the only state that allows industrial-scale menhaden fishing on the East Coast. The group is asking the president to ban industrial reduction fishing to preserve not only the bait fish but the other species that rely on menhaden, herring, and other forage fish on the Atlantic coast. The fishermen say state legislative leaders may not have the capacity or willingness to enact such protections. 

“Most of our politicians don’t understand the importance of this fish, and in fact, many of them don’t know the difference between a menhaden and an oyster to be honest,” Atkinson said.
 ”They have a lot of issues they deal with, and they’re not always open to spend a lot of time learning about this. And we’ve been trying, but it’s a challenge.”

Atkinson claimed that Canadian-led industrial fishing of menhaden is decimating the stripped bass populations in the Chesapeake Bay. His claims are rooted in past lawsuits that alleged the Bay’s only industrial menhaden harvester, Omega Protein, was foreign-owned. 

A 2021 lawsuit that has since been dismissed was brought by two environmental and conservation investigators. The federal government opted to stay out of the case and allowed it to play out in the southern district of New York. Canada-based Cooke Inc. bought Omega Protein, based in Reedville, Virginia, in 2017. The vessel operators who catch the fish for Omega were part of a business called Ocean Harvesters which is owned by Cooke, based in the U.S. and run by the American nephew of Cooke’s CEO, Glenn Cooke. The case was thrown out by the judge in January of this year, WAVY reported.

The attorney for the two men, Brendon DeMay, said the case was thrown out because of technicalities and not ruled on based on the merits of the allegations. He said in a press conference he will continue to try to prove those claims through the appeals process.

Atkinson and Phil Zalesak, the president of the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization, appeared in a video President Trump posted to Truth Social earlier this month. They bolstered the claims that foreign counties were intruding on the sportfishing industry and that the declining population is harming Virginia businesses.

“This action will reestablish a $10 billion striped bass business based industry on the Atlantic coast and lead to the employment of thousands of fishermen and business owners along the coast,” Zalesak said. “This action will also end foreign exploitation of the U.S. Natural resources to the benefit of the environment in the U.S. economy.”

The Virginia General Assembly has tried to pass legislation to study the impact of menhaden fishing on the reportedly declining menhaden population. The goal: to find out if the industrial fishing of these fish is the reason for the population decline or if it is due to other factors. A proposed $3 million study failed to pass out of the House of Delegates this year when it was cut during budget negotiations.

After concerns surfaced about the menhaden population impacting the food chain in the bay, the cap for menhaden harvest was lowered to 51,000 metric tons in 2017 by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Omega busted that cap by 33% in 2019, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

“If everyone would have a piece of the pie and we could all exist then there would be a little bit more harmony, and this treasured resource, these menhaden fish, wouldn’t be so exploited,” Vinnie Calabro, the owner of Karen Ann Charters and a commercial striped bass fisherman, said.