New bipartisan legislation creates a national task force to address rising shark depredation through science, collaboration, and education, supporting both anglers and ocean health
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership commends the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee for advancing the SHARKED Act on July 30 – a vital step toward balancing recreational fishing interests with the ecological importance of sharks.
The Supporting the Health of Aquatic Systems through Research Knowledge and Enhanced Dialogue Act of 2025 (SHARKED Act) moves on to a full vote by the Senate before heading to the president’s desk to potentially be signed into law. The bill was introduced by Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) and directs the Department of Commerce to establish a comprehensive task force focused on shark depredation. The act previously passed the House of Representatives in January.
Image credit: David Hay Jones, courtesy of the MSU Marine Fisheries Ecology Program
Shark depredation is the phenomenon in which sharks circle fishing vessels to eat hooked fish while anglers fight the fish to the boat. While not a new issue, recreational fishermen and charter captains in the South Atlantic and Gulf of America have been particularly concerned in recent years at what seems to be a dramatic increase in the number of fish like snapper, tunas, tarpon, and even billfish that are being attacked by sharks.
“Anglers across the Atlantic Basin have grown increasingly frustrated in the last several years by sharks taking hooked fish and congregating in large numbers around reefs, wrecks, and other popular fishing areas, something I’ve seen firsthand repeatedly over the last five-plus years,” said TRCP Fisheries Director and avid angler Chris Macaluso. “Getting the best science we can to find out the causes of these increases and working with anglers to find sound, science-based approaches to addressing the issue is what the SHARKED Act aims to accomplish. We applaud Congress for continuing to move this bill forward.”
Image credit: David Hay Jones, courtesy of the MSU Marine Fisheries Ecology Program
The task force will harness expertise from regional fishery management councils, marine fisheries commissions, state wildlife agencies, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and marine scientists to:
Enhance coordination between fisheries managers and shark researchers
Identify key research priorities and the most effective tactics—from species identification to changing shark behaviors and climate change impacts on shifting shark populations and prey
Develop management strategies and non‑lethal approaches to reduce harmful interactions
Provide guidance and educational materials to fishers and resource managers
The bill mandates an initial report to Congress within two years of enactment, with biennial updates thereafter, and includes a sunset clause terminating the task force after seven years.
Austin Evans is TRCP’s 2025 marine fisheries intern.
Hooked Early, Hooked for Life: Why Kids Hold the Future of Our Fisheries
TRCP’s marine fisheries intern reflects on how personal experience shaped his interest in the outdoors, the need for youth angling participation, and the importance of forage fish conservation for the next generation
Memory is a weird thing. It helps us to not repeat mistakes from the past and enables us to recall some of our favorite times. You might remember your first-grade class pet’s name but forget your Netflix password four times in a month. There’s not much rhyme or reason to it.
Some people talk about how they can remember the first fish they ever caught. I’m not one of those people — I couldn’t tell you what species it was or where I was when I caught it. However, I can tell you the first time I remember being jealous of a fish someone else caught. One of my friends, Winslow, hooked a bonnethead shark in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina (pictured below), and while I did catch some seatrout that day, it was the allure of Winslow’s shark that brought me back to fishing over and over again. So one thing I do know about memory is that when we learn to fish at a young age, we’ll never forget some of those early experiences – and they will help shape our values and interests.
Me photobombing Winslow and my godfather, Dave D., holding the bonnethead years ago. Credit: Sid Evans
The Importance of Starting Young
Last summer, I was lucky enough to work as a fishing and kayaking camp counselor in Charleston and experience the joy of catching a fish for the first time again — this time from a new perspective. My main job was watching kids catch shrimps, minnows, and other small fish with nets and rods off the dock and taking them around in kayaks. What many of these kids learned was that all of these species play a key role in coastal habitats by serving as “forage” (a food source) for larger fish and wildlife.
“More than 90 percent of adult participation in hunting and fishing is directly related to active participation as a youth.“
What amazed me was that kids would come back each day with more excitement and knowledge about fishing and the ecosystem than the day before, and all with their own reasons. A full net of baby shrimps one day turned overnight into questions about osprey and the local food chain. One kid caught a stingray and had a ridiculous grin on his face for the rest of the camp week. Others who weren’t into catching fish were amazed by the dolphins that swam right up to our kayaks in Shem Creek.
According to data from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, more than 90 percent of adult participation in hunting and fishing is directly related to active participation as a youth. Kids that grow up with great outdoor memories tend to pursue those hobbies for the rest of their life, and taking care of our public lands, restoring our wetlands and fisheries, and ensuring access for hunting and angling will be of the types of issues that will be a priority for them.
A kayaking field trip I co-led on Shem Creek off Charleston Harbor, 2024. Credit: Coastal Expeditions
Fisheries Challenges Facing the Next Generation
Many of the marine waters that Southern and Eastern anglers grew up on are now struggling. The management of forage fish like menhaden has been hamstrung over the years due to the influence of industrial-scale reduction fisheries in the Gulf and on the Eastern Seaboard. Menhaden are a vital food source for numerous predators, including larger fish, marine mammals, and birds, and lower localized population numbers have led to ecological backsliding in areas like the Chesapeake Bay, which can impact fisheries in other Atlantic states, including South Carolina.
To effectively manage our coastal ecosystems, we need to have a two-pronged approach: ensuring that forage fish populations continue to improve through federal and state regulations and marine fisheries policies, and getting more young people outside with a rod in their hands to create future champions for our favorite waters.
A younger me with my father holding a small seatrout. Credit: Dave DiBenedetto
Ensuring Our Angling Legacy
Kids really don’t need much to have fun. They just need to get outside to experience fishing and hunting opportunities firsthand, and it’s our responsibility to give them that chance as often as we can. The simple memories that kids make from their outdoor experiences will ensure that as long as the next generation loves fishing, like we do, our waters will be left in much better hands.
It’s also our responsibility to guarantee healthy fish populations for that next generation of anglers. And one of the best ways to achieve that in Atlantic and Gulf waters is through protecting forage fish like menhaden.
Find more information about the ecological and recreational importance of menhaden, herring, and other forage fish and what we can do to support them on TRCP’s Forage Fish Recovery Page.
Austin Evans is TRCP’s 2025 marine fisheries intern.
TRCP Hosts Fisheries Conservation Summit at ICAST 2025
Popular panels on top conservation issues now a fixture at the annual sportfishing trade show
Each year, TRCP provides a Fisheries Conservation Summit at ICAST, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show, hosted by the American Sportfishing Association. At this year’s summit, top minds in fisheries policy and legislation came together to talk priorities—from fish population recovery through stock enhancements to angler data collection and fisheries legislation. One of the most challenging aspects of hosting the summit this year was trying to cram the myriad of hot-button issues in fisheries policy, science, and management into a three-hour window.
“I’m not sure anyone working on fisheries policy can remember a time when there’s been this much going on,” said Chris Macaluso, TRCP director of the Center for Fisheries and Mississippi River Program.
Fisheries Priorities for the Trump Administration and Congress
Fisheries policy experts from TRCP, ASA, Center for Sportfishing Policy, and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation highlighted and discussed nearly a dozen management and conservation policies and legislative matters that organizations are together working to advance over the course of the next year and beyond. The recent federal budget reconciliation process in Congress delayed other fisheries legislation this year, with panelists optimistically noting that Congress should be able to address other issues now that the reconciliation bill has passed. The panel also discussed the makeup of the new Trump administration’s fisheries-oriented agency leads; potential reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (the primary law controlling marine fisheries management in U.S. waters); transferring management of the South Atlantic red snapper fishery to Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina; and the impact new tariffs have had on recreational fishing, tackle, and boating.
“There has been significant positive action taken by the Trump administration, including withdrawing both the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule and the bottom fishing closure proposed off northeast Florida,” said Mike Leonard, vice president of government affairs for the American Sportfishing Association. “On the flip side of that, there’s the negative aspect of tariffs. It’s created an incredible amount of uncertainty in our industry.”
Video Premier: “Steel to Sanctuary: The Rigs to Reef Story”
Produced by Arena Energy in cooperation with CSF, this 30-minute documentary was shared publicly last week for the first time at the summit. The film showcases the remarkable habitat provided by energy-producing platforms off the Gulf Coast states and the need to protect this habitat in that region and elsewhere from being removed from coastal waters. This is critical because in the next decade, nearly half of the approximately 1,500 remaining rigs could be removed.
“What aspects of Rigs to Reefs could we fix from the bureaucratic perspective?” asked Chris Horton, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation’s senior director, fisheries policy. He offered that one way to achieve greater efficiency in retired rig protection is ensuring continuity of support at all levels – federal, state, nonprofit, and corporate.
Helping Fish Stocks Recover Through Stock Enhancement
A panel of fish hatchery experts and supporters including Bill Shedd, CEO of AFTCO, and staff from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Coastal Conservation Association Alabama highlighted the successes and discussed the limitations of efforts to help improve fish stocks in the Gulf states, California, and beyond through introduction of hatchery-born fish. One goal was to help states that aren’t currently active in stock enhancements learn from successful programs that currently supplement natural fish stocks with hundreds of thousands of hatchery-raised white sea bass, southern flounder, Florida pompano, and spotted seatrout each year. Topics that rose to the top were the importance of hatcheries for aquaculture, of obtaining breeding-size fish from recreational anglers making live donations in tournaments, and recognizing how sensitive fish can be to environmental changes that can have an outsized impact on hatchery success.
Maxwell Westendorf, hatchery manager with the Alabama Department of Conservation’s Marine Resources Division, emphasized that even minor stressors to southern flounder during early juvenile development – such as changing water temperature a few degrees up or down – can trigger masculinizing the young fish such that nearly the entire stock becomes male.
“Which begs the question, our oceans are warming up and will fish populations be able to keep up with these changes?” Westendorf said.
Fixing Data Collection to Improve Fishing Access
Moderated by Brett Fitzgerald of the Angler Action Foundation, a panel of experts from CCA Maryland, The Nature Conservancy, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission discussed technological advances and the use of “citizen science” to help narrow the gaps in state and federal data collection regarding recreational fishing. They also talked about tracking and tackling the problem of aquatic invasive species using data provided by recreational anglers. For example, CCA Maryland Executive Director David Sikorski said that through partnerships with groups including Yamaha Rightwaters, tournaments like the Great Chesapeake Invasives Count help track the spread and prevalence of Bay invasives like snakeheads, flathead catfish, and blue catfish.
Panelists acknowledged that a problem with fisheries data collection and release has been that managers lack sufficient data, largely because some anglers don’t trust agencies or organizations that supply the information that leads to reasonable regulations. “We have this issue here where anglers don’t trust the data, so they won’t give data to fisheries managers,” said David Moss, fisheries project manager for The Nature Conservancy. This leads to insufficient data to guide regulations, which creates a vicious cycle. But he also reminded the room how sound fisheries management benefits individual angling interests as well as future generations, referring to what can be gained for himself and his daughter.
“I tell everyone I do this because I want a fishery for her,” Moss said. “But I also want a fishery for me.”
Thank You, Sponsors and Presenters!
We want to extend our sincere appreciation to the panelists and attendees of the 2025 summit. We also want to thank this year’s sponsors, ASA and CSF, who made the summit possible.
The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land and waters access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.
2024 Gulf Menhaden Bycatch Study Offers Insights into Number of Fish Killed
Data suggest 22,000 or more mature redfish and a host of other sportfish, forage fish killed annually by pogy boats off Louisiana
(BATON ROUGE, La.)— A 2024 study on bycatch in the industrial Gulf menhaden fishery indicates that approximately 22,000 breeding-size redfish, tens of millions of non-target forage fish, and scores of other species were killed by the industry off Louisiana’s coast last season. The study findings, presented by researchers today to the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, revealed that 45 or more species, including black drum, seatrout, and cownose rays, were observed and counted in pogy boat nets.
Also of note, the study estimated approximately 81 million croaker and 25 million sand seatrout, known by local anglers as “white trout,” were killed and retained by the Gulf menhaden reduction industry in 2024. Both species are targeted by recreational anglers and serve as important “forage,” or a food source, for a host of sportfish and other wildlife.
Recreational angling in Louisiana provides $3.7 billion annually in economic contributions. A large portion of that is due to redfish, as one of the most targeted recreational species in the state and its only saltwater gamefish.
Industrial menhaden vessels suctioning catch from a net. Credit: CosmoVision Media
“This very thorough examination of the pogy industry is the best science gathered to date on the effects of the extensive industrial fishing on fish like redfish, black drum, white trout, croaker, and many other important gamefish and sportfish and the food they eat,” said Chris Macaluso, director of the Center for Fisheries and Mississippi River Programs for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and a life-long, avid Louisiana angler. “The results are concerning, especially given the efforts underway for the last year to make Louisiana’s redfish population healthier by ending the recreational harvest of large, breeding size redfish. Louisiana’s sportsmen and other conservation advocates applaud the Louisiana legislators, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries staff, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, and the researchers who conducted the study for ensuring it was a rigorous and thorough effort and for being transparent with the results.”
The study, funded by the Louisiana Legislature in 2022, administered by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, and conducted by LGL Ecological Research Associates, Inc., during the 2024 fishing season, was designed to determine the scale of impacts that the Gulf menhaden fishery has on non-targeted species that eat and live in the same waters as menhaden – a small, abundant baitfish also known as pogies – such as redfish and speckled trout. Specifically, researchers assessed how many non-target species, known as bycatch, were killed after they were netted while feeding on menhaden schools or simply due to swimming among pogy schools.
Bull redfish feeding on forage in the Gulf. Credit: David Mangum
The study focused on the 2024 menhaden fishing season, during which the reduction industry made 13,144 nets sets, a relatively low number when compared to the average number of sets made by the industry in recent years. Researchers gathered samples from just over 3 percent of sets made (418 of the 13,144 sets). They also used a combination of direct observation and cameras to view the entire pogy fishing process. They counted the number of predator and other species caught as bycatch in nets and recorded which of those continued through the harvesting process, which includes suctioning fish out of the net, through a chute, and into the ship’s hold. The team determined bycatch mortality rates by holding experiments and dart-tagging surviving fish that were released alive from the nets.
Redfish bycatch data have been of particular interest to recreational angling and charter boat operators due to restrictions in place for the past year. Anglers have been prohibited from harvesting bull redfish, or individuals over 27 inches in length, since June of 2024 to help rebuild declining redfish populations. Louisiana’s redfish slot limit was tightened and the creel limit reduced from five to four fish as well.
“This close examination of industrial menhaden fishing has been desperately needed to help understand the full extent of redfish and forage fish mortality,” said Richard Fischer, CEO for the Louisiana Charter Boat Association. “Charter captains’ conflicts with the menhaden purse seining boats aren’t just about places to fish but also the redfish and other sportfish and forage fish being killed, which our members, unfortunately, often see firsthand. The number of redfish killed annually is especially concerning since recreational fishermen have seen limits reduced and have ended the harvest of breeding-sized redfish in Louisiana to help strengthen redfish populations. The Louisiana Charter Boat Association thanks the Louisiana Legislature, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, and LGL Ecological Research Associates for supporting and conducting this thorough study.”
An Atlantic croaker. Credit: Chesapeake Bay Program
Of the 3.2 percent of total sets that were observed throughout the 2024 season, 865 redfish were caught as bycatch but remained inside the net and were later released, or “rolled over” with approximately 17 percent of them dying as a result of being trapped in the net. An additional 671 redfish were extracted from the water during the suctioning process and ran through a chute designed to separate larger bycatch. Approximately 98 percent of these “chute bycatch” fish did not survive.
For reference, “rollover bycatch” refers to non-target fish that remain in the water in the seine net after the main catch is pumped out, and before the net is opened for them to swim away. Generally, these fish are too large to be sucked into the hose. “Chute bycatch” refers to non-target fish that have been extracted from the net via a suction hose, sent up a chute and are then separated from the main catch by a large grate and released back into the water before they would end up in the hold. Generally, these fish are too large to pass through the grate. “Retained bycatch” refers to non-target fish that pass through the grate and end up in the hold along with the main catch; these fish experience 100 percent mortality.
An overview of the bycatch study findings can be viewed here. More information about the ecological and recreational importance of Gulf menhaden is available on TRCP’s Forage Fish Recovery Page.
Menhaden Management Board to Continue Exploring Chesapeake Bay Management Changes
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission board agrees to continue with plans toward further precautionary management of Bay’s menhaden fishery
On May 7, after discussing a memo which detailed potential management approaches to improve the precautionary management of Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden fishery, the Menhaden Management Board (MMB) of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission agreed to continue gathering information in order to take better-informed management action in the future.
Each board member was essentially tasked with coming up with questions and possible tasks to be investigated by a technical committee – state scientists appointed by the board to address scientific needs and provide a range of risk assessments, justifications, and likely outcomes of different management options – to be discussed at the next ASMFC meeting in August. What this means is that the detailed memo developed by a dedicated MMB work group is moving forward, and that the board will have more time this summer to delve into details of the data and the merits of each management approach, to ensure they provide the technical committee with a more thoughtful plan of action for analysis.
Foreign-owned Omega Protein removes millions of pounds of menhaden annually from Bay waters. Credit: CosmoVision Media
Last August, the MMB created a work group to “consider and evaluate options for further precautionary management of Chesapeake Bay menhaden fisheries, including time and area closures to be protective of piscivorous birds and fish during critical points of their life cycle.” The work group included MMB members representing eight states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia. Since that time, the work group gathered as much data as possible, ranging from osprey and finfish predator diet data to monthly fishing effort data, to develop a memo that illustrates potential management approaches to address their charge. These potential approaches include seasonal closures, area closures, fishing effort distribution controls, and decreases to the current Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap, all of which could be utilized individually or in combination to manage the Bay’s menhaden fishery more effectively.
Over three-quarters of the coastwide Atlantic menhaden quota is taken from Virginia’s waters and adjacent federal waters.
For many years, the public has been sounding the alarm about the outsized impacts of the menhaden reduction fishery on the Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden population during the commercial fishing season. While Atlantic menhaden are a migratory species that move up and down the coast throughout the year, the Bay contributes a majority of the Atlantic coastwide stock. So it’s no surprise that a myriad of Atlantic predators are reliant on menhaden as a food source in the Bay, from beloved striped bass (70 to 90 percent of which originate from Chesapeake Bay) to the iconic osprey, which has been suffering with remarkable breeding failures in the lower Bay over the last few years.
The osprey issue was the primary impetus for the MMB to create the work group last year, because data indicated that a lack of food availability during chick-rearing season – most importantly, nutrient-dense menhaden, as highlighted by researchers – was causing widespread osprey nest failure in various areas of the Chesapeake, most notably Mobjack Bay. While the reduction fleet doesn’t fish much inside Mobjack Bay itself, it’s widely known that menhaden schools move constantly throughout that bay, the Chesapeake Bay, and beyond, and the harvest of entire schools in one area could mean that an entire potential food source is taken away from predators in not only that same area, but also from predators in other areas where harvested menhaden could have migrated.
Chesapeake Bay menhaden are a critical food source for ospreys and striped bass. Credit: Chesapeake Bay Program
Naturally, dealing with ever-moving fish stocks and ever-changing environmental conditions is a huge undertaking for fisheries managers, as we see all the time at the ASMFC and the regional fishery management councils. Thanks to public advocacy and the commission’s dedication to the resource, we have a robust, ecosystem-based management framework in place for Atlantic menhaden, which allows regulators to more effectively manage menhaden for their comprehensive ecosystem role to create a more sustainable coastwide fishery.
Unfortunately, what we still don’t have are data specific to menhaden within the Chesapeake Bay. This essentially creates a gap between the ecosystem models and the reality on the water, because the management framework can’t “see” how the Chesapeake Bay menhaden harvest is impacting the Bay ecosystem. When nearly a quarter of the coastwide quota is taken from Virginia’s portion of Chesapeake Bay, and over three-quarters are taken from Virginia state waters and adjacent federal waters, those impacts could be massive to the region.
The largest fishery by volume in the Chesapeake Bay, in Virginia, and along the Atlantic coast operates with no data on the amount of menhaden present within the primary area of harvest.
For the last few years, TRCP, our partners, and the public have been trying to answer important questions about the Bay’s menhaden, primarily by supporting a study plan developed by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, in partnership with the reduction industry itself, as well as the recreational angling and conservation communities. The Virginia General Assembly has failed to fund this work multiple times in the past few years, mainly due to industry opposition. If that research were to be funded, Virginia managers and the ASMFC would finally have much more information at their fingertips to make informed decisions about how to manage this fishery more effectively.
The only menhaden processing plant still operating on the East Coast is Omega Protein’s facility in Reedville, VA. Credit: CosmoVision Media
It frankly makes no sense that the largest fishery by volume in the Chesapeake Bay, in Virginia, and along the Atlantic coast operates with no data on the amount of menhaden present within the primary area of harvest. Especially when we know the outsized role that menhaden play in the diets of so many iconic Atlantic predators.
While the TRCP and partners continue to engage in advocacy to gather more Chesapeake Bay menhaden science, we are thankful to have the broad support of so many who also want to see improved menhaden science. Over the winter, we gathered more than 24,000 of your signatures in support of better menhaden science in the Bay, listened to your concerns, and are confident that with continued, strong advocacy, decision-makers at the state and regional levels will hear what we have to say and act. After this week’s MMB meeting, it’s clear that the ASMFC is already on board with improving the management of Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden fishery, and that to do so will take serious consideration of all the factors involved to solve this complex problem. We are encouraged by the board’s enthusiasm for the work group’s memo, and their clear desire to move forward with thoughtful action.
Stay tuned for the summer ASMFC meeting August 5-7 to see what the Menhaden Management Board determines it wants from its technical committee, and rest assured, the TRCP and partners will be collaborating during this time to be a part of the solution.
Banner image of menhaden purse boats courtesy CosmoVision Media; menhaden school image above courtesy Gaelin Rosenwaks
HOW YOU CAN HELP
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