The Bay for our Future
Protect Chesapeake Bay heritage
The Chesapeake Bay is central to Virginia’s identity. For generations, Virginians have worked its waters, passed down fishing traditions, and relied on the Bay for food, livelihoods, and community.
Menhaden have always been part of that story, even when overlooked. These small fish quietly sustain the species that define the Bay – striped bass, osprey, blue crabs – and the traditions built around them.
Why Menhaden Matter
Menhaden are a shared resource
Menhaden are a public resource. They belong to the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia, not to any single company. Managing them responsibly is part of our duty as Virginians and essential to the common good.
Today, Virginia is the only Atlantic state that permits industrial menhaden “reduction fishing,” a fishing operation that targets small forage fish, like menhaden, and grinds them into commercial products such as fishmeal, fish oil, and other industrial/commercial products.
Ocean Harvesters, Omega Protein’s fishing partner, operates a fleet of massive vessels nearly 200 feet long, using nylon purse seine nets up to 1,600 feet in length, spotter planes to track schools of fish, and vacuum hoses that suck menhaden out of the water. That choice puts a single foreign-owned company ahead of the long-term health of a shared resource that belongs to all Virginians.
What’s at stake
When menhaden populations decline in Chesapeake Bay, the loss is more than ecological. It’s cultural, and that’s personal.
Fewer fish mean fewer opportunities for watermen, charter captains, anglers, and families who depend on the Bay for their livelihoods and way of life.
Struggling wildlife signals something is wrong. Osprey are fighting to feed their young with menhaden, a visible warning that the Bay’s foundation is vanishing.
Each season without action makes it harder to ensure a healthy, productive Chesapeake Bay for the next generation of Virginians.
The fishing traditions and working waterfronts that have defined Virginia’s coastal communities for centuries are at risk when we allow a single industry to extract the Bay’s foundational species without adequate scientific oversight.
Protecting our legacy
Protecting menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay is about honoring Virginia’s past while safeguarding its future. A precautionary approach to menhaden management would:
- Preserve fishing traditions and working waterfronts that have sustained Virginia families for generations.
- Protect the wildlife that defines the Chesapeake including striped bass, osprey, whales, and the interconnected ecosystem that makes the Bay unique.
- Maintain vibrant Bay for generations to come, a Bay that supports both the wildlife and communities that depend on its healthy waters
Join Virginians in speaking up: the Chesapeake Bay is not for sale.