The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has been holding public hearings since September 15 to gather public comment on Draft Addendum II to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. At the core of this addendum is a proposal to cut the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap (Bay Cap) by up to 50%.
Yes, that’s good news for the Chesapeake Bay, the primary spawning estuary for striped bass. Just keep in mind this also allows distributing that harvest throughout the fishing season, meaning that Bay Cap cut be redirected to the ocean fishery quota. So, while the Chesapeake would see fewer menhaden harvested, that Bay Cap cutback would effectively be transferred to federal waters, outside of 3 miles, all the way up to the NY/NJ Bight.
“Reduction fishery” refers to the large-scale industrial fleet which “reduces” bunker into fish meal and solubles. For years, much of that reduction harvest was undertaken by a Virginia company called Omega; but as described by the National Fisherman last September, Omega Protein was purchased in 2017 by the Canadian company Cooke Inc. (Cooke Seafood or Cooke Aquaculture). “Cooke Inc. also owns and operates one of the largest salmon aquaculture businesses in the world and bought Omega primarily because of the high protein fish meal component used as a supplemental food source to grow salmon,” the commercial fishing publication noted.
There are several elephants in the room for this menhaden debate, the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and Canada for one. With Virginia possessing 75% of the entire commercial menhaden quota and functioning as operational base for Cooke Seafood to send ground bunker across the border to feed farm-raised Canadian salmon, you’d think the ongoing tariff war would be wreaking havoc on this industry. Yet in this tit-for-tat tariff fight, Canada’s Department of Finance announced that it had removed seafood and fish products from the country’s list of retaliatory counter tariffs. Big surprise, huh?
Thus begins the debate over taxes, and employment. The Virginia-based menhaden harvest fleet and processing plant – operated by Ocean Harvesters in partnership with Omega and Cooke – employs approximately 260 workers according to a recent article in the Chesapeake Bay Journal, which makes this a state “jobs issue.” So, while you can justifiably blame the Trump administration for failing to go after Canada’s access to forage fish in U.S. federal waters, we must also thank blue state leaders as well, starting with Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger, a democrat with a 2026 inaugural committee that’s reportedly collected $50,000 in campaign contributions from Omega according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
And in New Jersey? Well, surely governors talk; search “Musical Chairs” at TheFisherman.com for my August 3rd editor’s log on that front. So if you were thinking that one political party holds higher moral ground in this menhaden debate over the other, think again. From coastal state governors and their appointees, all the way to the White House, menhaden may be the most politically infected fishery in North America.
At their 2025 annual meeting, the ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board voted to cut the total allowable menhaden catch by 20%, later acknowledging it would lead to a 100% probability of fishing mortality being above the commission’s own ecological reference point target. In other words, instead of voting to support the menhaden’s scientifically recognized role in the ecosystem, the ASMFC effectively took a position more favorable to politicians.
You have another chance to comment before the next annual meeting of the ASMFC in November; see News Briefs starting on page for more information. You have until October 9th to email your thoughts and opinions on this addendum and the 50% Bay Cap to comments@asmfc.org.
And by all means, on behalf of the peanuts that fuel our fall striper run, feel free to mention the elephants; the donkeys too!
