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Menhaden Stock Assessment Indicates Catch Must Be Reduced to Benefit Striped Bass
The 2025 Atlantic menhaden stock assessment updates connect menhaden harvest directly to the health of marine predators; ASMFC projections suggest cutting commercial catch limit by half
If you fish the Atlantic coast for striped bass, bluefish, or bluefin tuna, here’s the truth: your success depends on Atlantic menhaden. These small forage fish fuel the predators sought by recreational anglers and charter businesses, as well as whales, dolphins, ospreys, and many other species integral to a thriving food web.
Last week, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission released the 2025 Atlantic Menhaden Ecological Reference Point Stock Assessment Report, which sets the stage for how Atlantic menhaden will be managed for the next few years. The update indicates that the coastwide menhaden biomass is lower than previously estimated and resulting projections now suggest that slashing the coastwide catch limit by more than 50 percent may be necessary to ensure sufficient forage for striped bass rebuilding.
What Are ERPs & Why Do They Matter?
This latest benchmark stock assessment and peer review process for Atlantic menhaden uses ecosystem modeling to establish ecological reference points (ERPs) — clear, science-based limits that tie menhaden harvest directly to predator health. Unlike traditional single-species models that only measure the health of one species (how many fish there are, how fast they grow, how many are caught, etc.), ERPs explicitly weigh the tradeoffs between menhaden harvest and predator population outcomes — especially for striped bass. These numbers are our best tool to keep striped bass (also known as rockfish) and other sportfish thriving by ensuring they have adequate food left in the water.
If we catch this many menhaden, what happens to the predators that rely on them?
A key outcome of “SEDAR 102,” the official name of the stock assessment update, is the update to ERPs. Utilizing ERPs means that menhaden are not just managed based on that sole fishery, but also through considering the needs of predators that eat them (i.e., striped bass), and the broader ecosystem. The assessment update draws on the best available science — everything from updated menhaden life history information to new predator diet data to account for complex predator-prey relationships. Importantly, both the latest single-species and ecosystem models went through independent peer review by external experts, and were found to be scientifically credible for management.
TRCP and partners successfully advocated for ERPs to be considered in menhaden management starting in 2020. With ERPs, the idea is: if we harvest menhaden at industrial scales, even if their own stock looks healthy, we might not leave enough in the water for predators that rely on them, like striped bass, bluefish, osprey, and bluefin tuna. In plain terms: ERPs help managers answer the question, “If we catch this many menhaden, what happens to the predators that rely on them?”
Where We Stand Now
The ASMFC’s Menhaden Management Board should now approve these updated ERP values for management (a revised ERP fishing mortality target that balances menhaden harvest with the needs of striped bass and a new ERP “overfishing” threshold). The Board is gearing up to accept the new ERPs at their annual meeting on Oct. 28, and then update the coastwide total allowable catch for the 2026-2028 fishing seasons, based on those values.
The 2023 menhaden fishing mortality rate was estimated to be above the updated ERP target, meaning current menhaden fishing pressure won’t allow striped bass to rebuild to their biomass target. That tells managers that while neither stock is collapsing, the commercial menhaden fishery is removing more fish from the water than the ecosystem-based fishing target says will support striped bass rebuilding. In plain terms: menhaden are not technically “overfished” nor experiencing “overfishing,” but stripers and other predators aren’t getting all the menhaden they need to maintain healthy populations of their own.
Stripers Stand the Most to Gain (or Lose)
Rebuilding the Atlantic striped bass population isn’t just about regulating striped bass harvest. It’s also about ensuring that their main food source — Atlantic menhaden — is managed responsibly. The ERP framework is designed to link menhaden harvest levels directly to predator population outcomes. And no predator drives the ecosystem models more than striped bass.
Here’s the reality:
- Unlike menhaden, striped bass are overfished. Their spawning stock biomass remains below target levels.
- Menhaden are their primary forage. If menhaden fishing mortality levels rise above the ERP target, it reduces the availability of prey just when stripers need it most to rebuild.
So, fishing menhaden below the ERP fishing mortality target ensures sufficient forage is left in the water for striped bass rebuilding to be achieved. More food for stripers to grow, survive, and reproduce is exactly what’s needed to get the stock back on track.
Slashing the coastwide menhaden catch limit by more than 50 percent may be necessary to ensure sufficient forage for striped bass.
Why This Matters to Recreational Anglers
The ERPs give managers a roadmap to keep predators and prey in balance. But they don’t automatically trigger any fishery management changes. The coastwide menhaden quota still needs to be set, and projections by the Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee indicate that the total allowable catch will need to be cut by over 50 percent to achieve even a 50/50 probability of not exceeding the ERP fishing mortality target next season. We know that Virginia’s menhaden reduction fishery will push for the allowable catch to remain high, but we can’t ignore what the updated ERP values indicate. The ERP target isn’t just a number on a chart — it’s a data-driven indicator that says: If we leave this much bait in the water, striped bass stand a chance to rebuild.
Remember, the new ERP values represent the best available science and rigorous peer review. Accepting these updated values is essential to:
- Maintain the integrity of the ERP framework — the very system that puts predator needs at the heart of menhaden management.
- Ensure sustainable menhaden harvests that don’t undermine the forage base critical to Atlantic predators.
If the Menhaden Management Board fails to adopt these science-based ERP values, the role of menhaden as a keystone forage species in the Atlantic ecosystem could be jeopardized — and recreational anglers will be among the first to feel the impact.
Two Possible Levers Toward One Outcome
The ASMFC has two main tools to help rebuild striped bass populations:
- Reduce striped bass fishing mortality. The Atlantic Striped Bass Board has already acted, implementing new regulations that reduced striped bass fishing mortality to a 30-year low. In other words, anglers have already made sacrifices toward a solution.
- Reduce menhaden fishing mortality. This is now the only key lever left for fisheries managers to support striped bass recovery.
If menhaden aren’t managed at or below the ERP fishing mortality target, striped bass rebuilding will remain constrained, no matter what’s done on the striped bass fishery side. Ecosystem models are complex, and uncertainty always exists in predator-prey interactions and environmental conditions. That’s why the ERP framework recommends a precautionary approach to leave a buffer of forage in the system to safeguard against uncertainty. This is the standard for managing a key forage fish — and it’s exactly what the peer-reviewed science supports.
What You Can Do
- Stay informed: When you hear debates about updates to the coastwide quota, and see conflicting information about what should drive it, know that the latest ERP fishing mortality target is the line in the sand for predator health.
- Speak up: Recreational voices matter at ASMFC and state agency meetings. Ask the Menhaden Management Board to accept the updated ERPs and set the 2026-2028 total allowable menhaden catch so there’s no more than a 50 percent chance of exceeding the ERP fishing mortality target. Anglers have a seat at this table — let’s use it.
- Think long-term: More menhaden left in the water now means more fall striper blitzes, fatter fish, and better fishing in the years ahead for us and future generations.
For more information about how to tune in to the ASMFC annual meeting Oct. 27-30, when the Menhaden Management Board will discuss changes to the ERPs and total allowable catch as a result of the stock assessment update, visit the ASMFC meeting webpage.
Comment period extended to December 18 for Proposed Rock Springs Resource Management Plan Amendment
Wyoming hunters and anglers urge BLM to retain community-developed management actions for fish and wildlife, including the Greater Little Mountain Area, in an amended plan
On November 1, the Bureau of Land Management added a 45-day extension to the comment period for its Notice of Intent to amend the finalized Rock Springs Resource Management Plan. A public meeting has also been scheduled for Wednesday, December 3, in Rock Springs.
The proposal to amend the now in-effect RMP is over compatibility concerns with recent Administration executive orders. The 3.6-million-acre Rock Springs Field Office is prized by sportspeople for its critical big game habitat, long-distance migration corridors including portions of the Sublette pronghorn and mule deer migrations, and diverse hunting and angling opportunities. The Field Office is also important for energy development, mining, grazing, motorized recreation, and other multiple uses.
Wyomingites are used to rolling up our sleeves and tackling tough challenges, and the Rock Springs RMP is no exception. The revision process first started over a decade ago, and we’ve worked hard to develop community-supported management actions that will conserve big game and fish habitat that bolster our sporting traditions. Thanks to these efforts, the conservation of big game migration corridors and special places like the Greater Little Mountain Area were included in the revised plan finalized in December 2024.
The BLM’s proposal to amend the RMP creates the opportunity for the agency to retain common-sense management actions that have strong support from locals and sportspeople across Wyoming, while addressing the limited controversial elements of the plan. This approach, supported by Governor Gordon, is much preferrable to Congressional action under the Congressional Review Act, which would tie the hands of the BLM when making management changes in the Rock Springs Field Office well into the future.
The extended comment period ends on December 18 and is an opportunity for hunters and anglers to support a durable outcome that benefits wildlife, local economies, and the multiple uses of the field office. Please visit the eplanning site today to submit your comments by December 18.
The public is also invited to attend the in-person meeting in Rock Springs on December 3 from 3-6 p.m. at the Sweetwater Events Complex at 3320 Yellowstone Road.
Suggested Comments:
- The outstanding fish and wildlife resources of the Greater Little Mountain Area make it the crown jewel of southwest Wyoming. Please retain the community-supported management actions for this region.
- The Rock Springs Field Office contains important habitat for the Sublette mule deer and antelope migration corridors. Please retain management actions that follow the 2020-1 Wyoming Mule Deer and Antelope Migration Corridor Protection Executive Order.
Photo Credit: Andy Roosa
All Hunters Love Stories
TRCP’s communication manager meditates on the common language of hunters
The two pickups jostled down the dirt track that followed the railroad south. I was in the second with Alex Harvey, founder of Legacy Land Management, and the pickup in front of us had the beagles.
We’d just spent a morning hunting swamp rabbits along a creek in the Mississippi River Delta. I was bloody from bushwhacking and tired from crossing the water three times trying to get in front of the rabbit. While I wasn’t fortunate enough to pull the trigger, the group bagged two of the oversized bunnies. With the day growing longer, most folks in the party had to leave for afternoon work.
Fortunately for us, Fred Johnson was willing to show Alex and I a potential duck hole for the morning, and we followed him and Zarius Moore up the lonely highway to the turn off that snaked us down along some flooded timber.
When the pickups stopped, we all piled out and looked at the water and listened to Fred say how six ducks were taken out of there two days before, so the birds were around.
Fred lit a cigarette, and I turned to Zarius to ask him how deer season had been. A grin cracked his face, and he reached into his pocket for his phone.
“It’s been good, deer seasons are good around here,” he said as we huddled around his screen to look at the bucks he and his buddies had killed in the last few months.
Light-tined bucks filled side-by and truck beds. Smiling faces of old and young hunters slide-showed by as I picked up moments of the hunts through Zarius’ first, second, or in some cases, third-hand accounts.
Being a Northeastern hunter at heart, I asked about the size of the deer, naively guessing that they were small like most southern deer I’d encountered.
“What do the bucks weigh? 110 here?”
Zarius, Alex, and Fred all shook their heads and chided me for such an outrageous assumption.
“So, you have bucks here that get to 200?”
“We have does getting to 200!” Alex laughed. “All they do is eat, then disappear and grow.”
“I just thought it’d be like in Texas or South Carolina with the smaller bodies.”
“No, this is Mississippi,” Zarius chuckled.
Zarius scrolled to a video where he was on the ground and a heavy-beamed eight point cautiously made his way through the brush along a trail.
“I took this video last week. I was done hunting. Had my rifle there though, but I knew I wasn’t going to shoot him.”
I watched as the deer stepped closer to the phone. Head bobbing up and down trying to tell what the figure was at the base of the tree. Not so scared as to turn and throw the white flag, but unwilling to commit fully to continuing down the trail.
“I just wanted to watch him. I like this video.”
Finally, Zarius behind his phone shifts and the deer moves off and the video ends. A few more deer and happy hunters appear, then we’re on to talking about rabbits and ducks again and how the expected cold next week will really change things.
I realized then that the moment of us passing stories epitomized the collective home of hunters. No matter that we’d all just met hours before, no matter where we’d been or where we were going, we as hunters were able to listen and share a common reverence for the creatures and spaces we love.
This common language, this connective tissue that binds all of us who find the woods and water to be clarifying places for our lives, is why we can join together for conservation. The woods and waters where we can gather and pursue our passions is the common space that must be conserved. It’s why I can see a young hunter’s face smiling with a deer and recognize myself in that joy. I work to ensure that the animals and places that makes that joy possible endures for generations.
Conservation makes more stories possible.
In January 2025, TRCP traveled to the Mississippi River Delta to talk with land manager Alex Harvey, founder of Legacy Land Management, about the hunting traditions of the region as well as his work to enhance the wildlife values of private property by implementing conservation measures with support from United States Department of Agriculture programs included in the Farm Bill.
“If a landowner is able to make conservation improvements on their property, they will likely be able to utilize it more,” Harvey explains. “Better conservation practices mean more rabbits, ducks, and deer. More animals means better hunting, and that means the landowner and their family will spend more time hunting there.”
Watch The Land Manager below and find the full playlist of short films HERE.
TRCP Announces New Conservation Staff Member in Pennsylvania
PA field representative will focus on key state conservation issues as well as national wildlife health concerns, including Chronic Wasting Disease
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership announced today the addition of Jim Kauffman, who will serve as the organization’s Pennsylvania field representative and wildlife health coordinator. This position will ensure that hunting, fishing, and trapping opportunities are maintained for all Pennsylvanians through sound conservation policy and scientific management strategies while helping TRCP achieve its mission to guarantee all Americans quality places to hunt and fish.
In this role, Kauffman will serve as the organization’s state representative for conservation, access, and habitat policies affecting hunters and anglers, as well as work to address water quality concerns that affect Pennsylvania’s trout streams, wetlands, and downstream waters including the Chesapeake Bay. He also will coordinate the organization’s strategy to combat Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) nationwide and support partners in educating hunters about other relevant wildlife diseases and pest threats.
“Despite growing up in suburban Pennsylvania, I was fortunate to have access to two cabins on public land that allowed my family to maintain our rural roots and passion for the outdoors,” said Jim Kauffman, Pennsylvania field representative and wildlife health coordinator for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “Those places have inspired in me a life dedicated to wildlife conservation, fair access to public lands, and the ethical pursuit of game.”
A lifelong Pennsylvanian, Kauffman holds a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Penn State and a master’s in biology from East Stroudsburg University. His career initially focused on the research and management of wildlife species including river otters, bobcats, fishers, and ring-necked pheasants. He has also worked extensively with private landowners to deliver habitat-incentive programs, provide forestry guidance, and promote public hunting access.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to further our commitment to conservation. $4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue our efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.
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