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Introduction
Menhaden are the most important fish in the sea even though most have never heard of them nor seen them on menus. Only twelve inches long, they are found along the East Coast and in the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico. Marine predators such whales, striped bass, marine birds and many other species rely heavily on menhaden to get their omega-3 fatty acids. In summary, they are a keystone species, and it is crucial that their numbers are adequate to feed a host of marine predators.
The Journey
Cooke Seafood is a Canadian company. They operate an industrial-scale fishing operation that is taking tens of thousands of tons of this fish out of Chesapeake Bay. The company’s ships scoop up almost one billion fish and grind them up to be used in part to feed their salmon farms in Canada.
Removing a keystone species in the country’s largest estuary where fish spawn is wreaking havoc on the marine ecosystem. Osprey are highly dependent on menhaden as a food source. Many chicks are dying due to lack of food. As a result, osprey populations are below replacement levels similar to the DDT era. In addition, striped bass, a popular recreational fish, are suffering from a wasting disease due to lack of food. Their population has declined substantially. As a result, significant recreational and commercial fishing jobs are lost with the decline of the striped bass population and several other popular eating fish.
Many local citizens want Cooke Seafood/Omega Protein out of the Bay and fishing out in the ocean. They have made petitions to the Virginia Governor and made pleadings to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), the regulatory authority. All efforts have failed. Cooke Seafood donates substantial funds for the campaign funds of the Governor and the General Assembly. As a result, virtually nothing is done to protect the Bay from over-exploitation by Cooke Seafood.
However, the Chesapeake Bay Legal Alliance, created by a small group of fishermen in Maryland, filed a lawsuit again the VMRC and claimed that they had failed to protect the Bay. A federal judge agreed and is now ordering the commission to come up with new rules. What will happen next? Will Cooke be thrown out of the Bay? Or will the state politicians prevent any changes as they have done so many times in the past. The very health of the Bay is at stake for future generations.