Menhaden Petition

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A Call for Maryland to Protect the Most Important Fish in the Sea

Dear Secretary Josh Kurtz and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources:

The Maryland Osprey and Nature Festival, along with the signatories to this petition, are writing to urge the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”) to take immediate action to protect Atlantic menhaden and the Chesapeake Bay wildlife that depend on them.

Atlantic menhaden, often referred to as “the most important fish in the sea,” play an essential role in the Chesapeake Bay. These nutrient-rich fish are a vital species in the Bay’s ecosystem, fueling prized sportfish like striped bass, along with ospreys, eagles, and other predators. They also help keep the Bay’s waters clean–each menhaden filters gallons of water every minute. Protecting menhaden means protecting the Bay’s fish, wildlife, and the healthy waters they all depend on. However, recent scientific research raises serious concerns that there are not enough menhaden available in the Bay to sustain the wildlife that depends on them.

In a 2026 peer-reviewed study, researchers monitored 571 osprey nests throughout the Chesapeake Bay and found that all high-salinity study areas–where ospreys depend heavily on menhaden–were demographic sinks, meaning ospreys were reproducing fewer young than necessary to sustain their populations. See Bryan Watts, et al., Widespread reproductive deficits in Chesapeake Bay ospreys., Front. Mar. Sci. 13:1685158 (2026) (Frontiers). The researchers documented widespread signs of food stress, including nest failure, brood reduction, and nestling loss, and identified reduced availability of Atlantic menhaden as a primary driver of poor osprey reproductive performance in the Bay’s high-salinity waters. See Bryan Watts, Findings of 2024 osprey work throughout the Chesapeake Bay published (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). This is not the only scientific research that shows that the Atlantic menhaden are in trouble. Several other studies have reached similar conclusions. See e.g. the Potomac River Fisheries Commission’s Finfish Landings Report showed a dramatic threefold decline in the menhaden catch from 2024 to 2025 (2025finfish.pdf); the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (“ASMFC”) own stock assessment found it had been dramatically overestimating its coastwide stock assessment and harvest numbers by around 50% (Investigation of Atlantic Menhaden Mortality Rates (2024)).

These findings demonstrate the need for action. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission (“VMRC”) has allowed the industrial harvest of menhaden to consistently reach immense numbers every year. This massive taking of menhaden has been a main driver of reduced availability of menhaden for other wildlife in the Bay. To date, there are zero menhaden accounted for in the fisheries harvest allocations for ecosystem services (i.e. the public).

We therefore urge Maryland DNR to:

• Formally request the VMRC and Virginia officials to impose a moratorium on the industrial menhaden reduction fishery within the Chesapeake Bay while ongoing research evaluates the ecological consequences of continued harvest;
• Use Maryland’s voice and vote at the ASMFC to support at least a 50% reduction in the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap; and
• Support stronger ecosystem-based management that leaves sufficient menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay for ospreys, striped bass, and the many other species that depend upon this essential forage fish.

Marylanders have invested decades and billions of dollars in protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay. Fisheries management should protect that investment by accounting for the needs of the entire ecosystem.

Thank you for protecting the Chesapeake Bay and the wildlife, fisheries, and communities that depend upon it.

Signed,

Maryland Osprey and Nature Festival

Sal Icaza, Chairman

 **Please remember to click on “contact us” at the top of the home page to sign this petition**

We, the undersigned, urge Maryland DNR to take the above actions to preserve and protect Atlantic menhaden and all species and communities that depend upon them.