Menhaden Recovery | Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

Like other small but critically important forage fish, menhaden play a central role in the marine food web. These tiny, oily baitfish are an essential food source for larger fish species, including some of the most economically important sportfish: striped bass, bluefin tuna, bluefish, redfish, speckled trout, weakfish, tarpon, summer flounder, and sharks. Whales, dolphins, seabirds, and other marine species also consume menhaden in large quantities. Menhaden also regulate water quality by filtering harmful nutrients as they feed.

But not all menhaden are managed with consideration for their vital role in coastal ecosystems.

In fact, commercial harvest of menhaden has increased to meet the demand of what’s called a “reduction fishery,” which reduces billions of menhaden into livestock feed, fish oil, fish meal, fertilizers, cosmetics, and other products. More menhaden are commercially harvested each year than any other fish in the lower 48 states—more than a million are caught per trip and more than a billion metric tons are caught per year, putting predators at risk and undermining the health of the marine ecosystem.

This is why sportsmen and women are calling for federal fisheries managers to change their approach to managing forage fish like menhaden.

Serving A Larger Purpose To The Ecosystem

If nothing changes, excessive removal of these important forage fish can damage our coastal ecosystems and harm America’s outdoor recreation economy. Here’s how leaving more menhaden in the water for predators would benefit anglers and communities that rely on recreational fishing.

Where We Work

The TRCP has partnered with other leading voices in the recreational fishing sector—including the American Sportfishing Association, Coastal Conservation Association, National Marine Manufacturers Association, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, and others—to encourage fisheries managers to leave more menhaden in the water for gamefish and protect sensitive ecosystems from industrial fishing wherever this practice is still taking place. Click on an area of focus to see our most recent efforts and get involved.

Atlantic Coast

The TRCP has been working to improve management of Atlantic menhaden since 2017, and our community has already secured some important wins.

After years of advocacy from anglers and recreational fishing business leaders, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted unanimously in August 2020 to consider “ecological reference points” in menhaden management and account for the small baitfish’s impact on fish all the way up the food chain. This is key for our recreational fishing opportunities, because studies show that menhaden reduction fishing contributes to a nearly 30-percent decline in striped bass numbers. At the urging of anglers, the Commission also created a new menhaden advisory committee and voted to reduce the Atlantic menhaden quota by 10 percent.

Now, our efforts include supporting the implementation of the new management model to benefit striped bass populations and pushing for additional conservation measures for menhaden and other forage species.

Chesapeake Bay

As the most important striped bass nursery on the East Coast, the Chesapeake Bay has become a high priority for the TRCP. A single foreign-owned company, Omega Protein, removes more than 100 million pounds of menhaden from the Bay each year, particularly in Virginia state waters.

Virginia is the only East Coast state where reduction fishing for menhaden has not been outlawed in state waters. Additionally, Omega has a history of bad behavior and environmental violations. In September 2019, Omega intentionally ignored its catch limit in the Chesapeake Bay and was subsequently found out of compliance by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. That fall, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce cracked down on overfishing in the Bay, paving the way for better management of the menhaden fishery.

Now, anglers are calling on Governor Glenn Youngkin to move menhaden reduction fishing out of the Chesapeake Bay until science shows that it isn’t having an impact on fish and habitat. The governor-appointed Virginia Marine Resources Commission has an opening to change menhaden regulations in October 2022, and thousands of anglers have already signed our petition in support of limiting industrial menhaden fishing to enhance sportfish populations and create jobs. Add your voice now.

Gulf of Mexico

In a recent study, Gulf menhaden—called pogies in Louisiana—were found to support the diets of 32 predator groups, including redfish, speckled trout, king and Spanish mackerel, blacktip sharks, gag grouper, dolphins, jacks, tuna, and mahi mahi. Reduction fishing for pogies reduces the availability of this critically important forage base and has other impacts on predator species, including potential declines from needless bycatch.

Further, shallow-water purse seining for menhaden contributes to beach erosion and damages nursery and spawning habitats for redfish, speckled trout, sharks, jacks, mackerels, blue crabs, and other species. To ensure that Louisiana’s coastal habitat can continue to support billions of dollars in revenue from recreational fishing and wildlife tourism, as well as thousands of vital jobs, the TRCP and its sportfishing partners have been calling for a regulated buffer zone that would restrict industrial menhaden harvest to deeper waters, reducing habitat impacts and conflicts between pogie boats and anglers.

In the 2022 state legislative session, Louisiana lawmakers considered a bipartisan bill that would have, for the first time, set a catch limit on nearshore industrial menhaden harvest and required regular reporting on menhaden harvested in state waters. Despite having passed the House in April 2022, a Senate committee ultimately killed the legislation. Still, more decision-makers are beginning to question whether the pogie industry is, in fact, causing no harm to coastal fisheries or habitat.

For all of these reasons, our goals in the Gulf region include establishing an ecological management model for menhaden and supporting state legislation and policies that prioritize menhaden conservation and protect sensitive habitat from damage during menhaden harvest activities.

Tiny Fish, Mighty Purpose

How Baitfish Drive Sportfishing

If you want great sportfishing,
you need healthy forage fish

But not all menhaden are managed with consideration for their vital role in coastal ecosystems.

This is why sportsmen and women are calling for federal fisheries managers to change their approach to managing forage fish like menhaden.

Serving A Larger Purpose To The Ecosystem