Menhaden

Make your Voice Heard

THE FISH THAT FEEDS THE COAST

MENHADEN NEED US

Menhaden fuel stripers, bluefish, redfish, ospreys and whales from Maine to Louisiana. A corrected error in the stock assessment shows roughly 37% fewer menhaden than managers assumed, and this November ASMFC decides whether harvest gets cut to match.

MENHADEN NEED YOUR VOICE

Two votes. One meeting. November.

The Bay Cap has a formal comment period. The coastwide TAC does not, so your only voice there is an email to your state’s commissioners. Do both.

A CORRECTED ERROR IN NATURAL MORTALITY

One number changed everything

Assessments assumed menhaden die naturally at a rate of 1.17. In 2025, scientists found a calculation error behind that number and corrected it to 0.92. A lower death rate means the model no longer needs a huge population to explain the catch.

The result: far fewer fish than we thought, and an old quota that now guarantees overfishing. The science supports a cut near 50%. Managers took 20%, for one year.

Fewer menhaden than previously estimated

Chance of overfishing at the old TAC

Cut the corrected science supports

Cut managers actually made, 2026 only

Menhaden are not paper fish.

The fishery only lands about 77 to 80% of its quota, so a 20% cut barely changes what comes out of the water.

KEEP THEM STRAIGHT OR LOSE THEM

Three fights, one error

01

COASTWIDE TAC

Now 186,840 mt for 2026. The 2027 to 2029 limit is set in November, with no formal comment period.

ASGA asks: cut at least 30%, ideally 50% (94,420 mt).

02

Chesapeake Cap

Stuck at 51,000 mt, with harvest piling into a few weeks every July and August. Draft Addendum II can fix that.

ASGA asks: 50% cut to 25,500 mt, spread evenly across three quota periods.

03

Reallocation

Lobster bait demand is pushing Maine past 900mt of menhaden a week. Moving unused quota raises real harvest.

ASGA asks: no reallocation without a real TAC cut.

The Bay Cap is not extra quota. It is a sub-limit inside the coastwide TAC. Cutting it helps the Chesapeake, but it does not fix the coastwide problem. We need both.

HONEST SCIENCE FOR BOTH FISH

Menhaden deserve their own voice

Menhaden matter to stripers. But stripers eat 110+ prey species, and every major model says striper fishing mortality is what rebuilds striped bass. Menhaden need cuts on their own merits.

“If all menhaden fishing suddenly ended, this action alone would not rebuild striped bass to their biomass target.”

– ASMFC

Read the Full Breakdown

GULF MENHADEN

No quota. No depth limit. Yet.

Louisiana’s reduction fleet runs without a coastwide cap. Three 2026 reform bills advanced; the 22-foot depth limit that targets the worst bycatch did not.

Follow the Louisiana Fight

HOW WE GOT HERE

2006

Chesapeake Bay Cap created

2012

First coastwide TAC

2020

Ecological reference points adopted

2025

Mortality error found; 2026 TAC cut 20%

Aug 2026

Draft Addendum II out for comment

Nov 2026

Final votes on Bay Cap and 2027 to 2029 TAC

DON'T SIT THIS ONE OUT

Menhaden can't comment. You can.

Personal messages beat form letters. Take five minutes: comment on the Bay Cap, then email your commissioners on the coastwide TAC.

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