2-26-2024 4:23am

Saving The Most Important

The Last Front in the Battle to Save the ‘Most Important Fish’ in the Atlantic

Fishermen, environmentalists, and residents say the Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden population is likely suffering. The last big company that’s catching them disputes the evidence and is pushing back.

BY LISA HELD, civileats.com

(cover photo) Menhaden are caught with pound pound nets and hauled aboard Captain Boo Polly’s workboat on the Chesapeake Bay, west of Barren Island in Dorchester County, Maryland, on June 27, 2020. (Photo by Carlin Stiehl/Chesapeake Bay Program)

Off the rocky coast of Maine, small, silver Atlantic menhaden are now so abundant that harbor seals, bluefin tuna, and bald eagles chase them into harbors, delighting fishermen. Along the sandy shores of Long Island and New Jersey, the return of massive schools are contributing to an increase in predators such as striped bass, dolphins, and humpback whales, which propel their giant bodies out of the water into the air, inspiring local artists and driving a sightseeing economy.

It’s a rousing success story for a species that American settlers greedily netted for fertilizer, oil, and animal feed starting as far back as the 1800s, until once-teeming coastal waters were nearly emptied, and the larger fish and birds that depended on menhaden suffered in their absence.

According to an interstate regulatory agency’s recent assessment, the region’s menhaden are no longer overfished. But a happy ending is not yet guaranteed for the creature dubbed “the most important fish in the sea” or the ecosystems it supports.

“In the last 10 years, [menhaden’s] range FINISH READING HERE