A closer look at Menhaden quota cut - enough, or too much? | Exclusive
The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board voted to cut the menhaden quota, but depending on who you talk to, the board either didn't go far enough, or went too far. The current coastwide total allowable catch is 186,840 metric tons. The board approved cutting it to 170,000 metric tons for 2027 and 155,000 metric tons for 2028. The next time the board will revisit the quota is in three years. In another regulatory move, the board voted to set the annual proportion of the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishing cap to the coastwide total available catch at 21.8%, which equates to 37,123 metric tons in 2027 and 33,847 metric tons in 2028. The decisions came Tuesday and Wednesday during the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s annual meeting, held this year in Newport, Rhode Island. They followed months of public debate that saw thousands of public comments; over 48,000 written comments were submitted on the bay cap alone. Several issues stoked public concern, principally, widespread osprey nest failures have the predatory bird population in a tailspin and an overfished striped bass stock, that, according to the ASMFC, has seen 7 years of low recruitment in the Chesapeake Bay. As both the opsrey and
