Two of America's Great Estuaries Are Under Attack.
Will You Help Save Them?
America's Greatest Bay, The Chesapeake, and it's Greatest River Delta, The Mississippi need you. Help stop the industrial reduction fishing of America's "Keystone" prey fish, Atlantic Menhaden and Gulf Menhaden. This wasteful industry from the 1800's continues to play an outsized role in the degradation of these two critical ecosystems.
Restore menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay and Mississippi River Delta to historic pre-industrial age levels.
Photo by Dave Harp
What is Industrial Reduction Fishing?
Reduction fishing is the last holdover from the devastating industrialized wildlife slaughter of our past.
In 2023 over 1.85 BILLION Menhaden were killed to make industrial products.
Multi-ton schools of this saltwater fish are tracked by a squadron of spotter aircraft, then pursued by fleets of industrial fishing ships working in teams to deploy 1,500-foot-long purse-seine nets. Once caught, the net compresses the Menhaden into a massive ball until they all suffocate. They are vacuumed onto the ships and their entrails, feces and urine are squeezed out. Brought back to shore their remains are piped into one of the four remaining reduction plants left in America (1 in Virginia, 2 in Louisiana, 1 in Mississippi). They are then ground up, cooked and processed into fish meal or fish oil.
For every metric ton of fish caught, only 1/3 is made into final product, the other 2/3 is waste. The majority of it dumped back into our oceans.
A $3B foreign conglomerate, and their wholly owned subsidiary in the United States control over 80% of these two remaining reduction fisheries on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. The only reduction fisheries left in America. There used to be over two dozen reduction companies and plants, but this one entity has worked to buyout and consolidate the industry. They now have a monopoly on the Atlantic Coast and only one smaller competitor left in the Gulf.
In 2023 over 1.85 BILLION Menhaden were killed to make industrial products.
Multi-ton schools of this saltwater fish are tracked by a squadron of spotter aircraft, then pursued by fleets of industrial fishing ships working in teams to deploy 1,500-foot-long purse-seine nets. Once caught, the net compresses the Menhaden into a massive ball until they all suffocate. They are vacuumed onto the ships and their entrails, feces and urine are squeezed out. Brought back to shore their remains are piped into one of the four remaining reduction plants left in America (1 in Virginia, 2 in Louisiana, 1 in Mississippi). They are then ground up, cooked and processed into fish meal or fish oil.
For every metric ton of fish caught, only 1/3 is made into final product, the other 2/3 is waste. The majority of it dumped back into our oceans.
A $3B foreign conglomerate, and their wholly owned subsidiary in the United States control over 80% of these two remaining reduction fisheries on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. The only reduction fisheries left in America. There used to be over two dozen reduction companies and plants, but this one entity has worked to buyout and consolidate the industry. They now have a monopoly on the Atlantic Coast and only one smaller competitor left in the Gulf.
Menhaden Reduction Plant in Louisiana. Taken for The Times-Picaynue by staff photographer Chris Granger. Click on the photo to read their article.
Menhaden are not a food source for humans. While other marine species love eating this oily, boned filled, protein packed fish, they are not palatable to us. The vast majority of the final product is used as feed for industrial fish (salmon), hog, chicken and cattle farms. Most of the rest becomes a cheap filler for popular pet foods. Your pet may have eaten our wild menhaden for breakfast today. They also love telling the story of using fish oil as an Omega 3 supplement for humans. It's meant to make you feel better about them. But fish oil pills are at best less than 2% of what they sell, and a new array of recent large scale medical studies has shown almost no health benefits from trying to boost your Omega 3 levels with supplements.
The other subject they don't tell you about is that menhaden caught in near shore waters contain cancer causing PCB chemicals. Feeding menhaden to other animals like salmon and chickens directly injects PCBs into our food chain. In Virginia, the official state advisory warns people to eat no more than 2 meals per month of fish containing PCBs.
"40 Wild-Caught Menhaden are needed to raise 1 Farmed Salmon."
Americans have stood up and stopped the wholesale industrialized killing of wild species before, whales, fur seals, buffalo, beaver, waterfowl, migratory birds and dozens of others. Menhaden reduction fishing was born from the need for a new industrial oil source in the 1800s when whales were exploited to near extinction. It's way past time for us to ban this practice in our near shore state coastal waters.
Federal waters start at 3 miles offshore. The regulatory agencies, the fishery certification organizations and the reduction companies themselves all say there are billions of menhaden to be found in the ocean, we are just asking them to do their fishing there. They currently take at least 40% of their catch in the ocean. Reduction fleets around the globe fish in the ocean every day, including in such extreme places as Antarctica. We ask American fleets to do the same. If the industry will not agree to fish only in Federal waters then a full ban on reduction fishing will be the only solution left to offer them.
Menhaden - Why are they important?
National Aquarium Living Mural - Jane Kim, artist
Menhaden evolved on this earth to be eaten by other marine species. That is their purpose in life.
Menhaden are the "Keystone" prey fish species in our coastal and bay waters. Menhaden average less than 12" in length and a pound in weight. But they pack an enormous amount of Omega rich protein in their bodies, and they congregate in vast schools measured in metric tons.
Predator and scavenger marine species on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from Humpback Whales and Dolphins, Osprey, Eagles, Pelicans, Gannets, Stripped Bass, Tuna, Crabs and countless others depend on Menhaden for their survival. They are the number one source of prey protein in these ecosystems.
Baltimore Sun article on Osprey Starvation in the Chesapeake Bay:
https://www.thebaltimorepost.com/2024/09/12/baltimore-sun-osprey-starvation-in-the-chesapeake-bay-spurs-renewed-debate-about-fish-harvest/
Menhaden are also filter feeders and clean vast amounts of water...averaging 4 gallons per minute. That is how they eat, filtering tiny phytoplankton, algae, and zooplankton from the water. And just like oysters, their lack of abundance has led to many of the issues we see related to oxygen depleted dead zones. Both species are critical to the health of our waters.
"It is a beautiful sunny day here. No sea birds…not a single one. Not to mention the Osprey collapse….there have been practically no pelicans, cormorants, heron, or even gulls during 2023. Something is very wrong and we know what it is."
- Debbie Campbell, Northampton County, VA, January 8th, 2024
Who's Involved in This Battle?
So far over 3 dozen organizations have become involved, including national organizations like the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, American Sportfishing Association, the Founding Fish Network, the International Osprey Foundation, the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club.
Local organizations lead the efforts in the battleground states; in Virginia groups like the Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association and the Richmond Audubon Society, in Maryland the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization and the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, on the Gulf the Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana.
You can join/support these groups and others like them.
The thousands of members of these organizations, plus corporations, governmental agencies, and scientists are joining together with individuals like you. The numbers and momentum are growing every day.
Local organizations lead the efforts in the battleground states; in Virginia groups like the Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association and the Richmond Audubon Society, in Maryland the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization and the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, on the Gulf the Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana.
You can join/support these groups and others like them.
The thousands of members of these organizations, plus corporations, governmental agencies, and scientists are joining together with individuals like you. The numbers and momentum are growing every day.
Photo by Russ W.
What Can You Do?
We will continue to list current events and action items. Here are five other things you can do right now as well:
WATCH THESE VIDEOS
WATCH THESE VIDEOS
Watch the entire 30-minute William McKeever menhaden documentary here: https://vimeo.com/969405454
Also watch a 5-minute excerpt on menhaden from the Emmy Award winning Netflix documentary "Mission Blue" by renowned oceanographer, Sylvia Earle, PhD. Watch her literally swim with the menhaden as they are being taken by a reduction vessel.
Watch here: Mission Blue: Menhaden Excerpt
Watch here: Mission Blue: Menhaden Excerpt
LEARN MORE
Read these two articles on the Atlantic and Gulf fisheries to get an overview of the issue:
https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/05/23/the-battle-for-menhaden-corporate-greed-threatens-the-chesapeake-bay/
https://www.nola.com/news/environment/theyre-taking-everything-banned-in-other-states-pogy-ships-catch-all-they-want-in-louisiana/article_e5e151d6-d2e5-11ec-b93b-d36274b6c562.html
Then google "menhaden reduction fishing" to learn even more.
SHARE WHAT YOU LEARN
Tell your friends, family and co-workers about reduction fishing. The reason this industry still exists, and politicians remain quiet is because few people know it even goes on.
If you belong to an organization, group, association, church or company that might be concerned about this issue, approach your leadership and see if they want to learn more.
If you are on social media, share your opinion. Like, dislike, comment on and share posts you see related to menhaden. Remember to be civil and factual. Negative comments can be good, especially on a foes feed, but be smart, and be correct in your statements.
TALK TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
If you live in Virginia, Louisiana or Mississippi, ask your elected state officials, your Governor, and your Federal level Senators and Congressman where they stand on the issue. We need them to be on record as to which side of the fight they are on. If they have never heard of it, tell them what you know. If you live in another state, ask your Federally elected officials and your Governors. This is a battle being fought at both the state level in Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi, and the Federal Level. https://www.saveourmenhaden.org/government-contacts.html
If you live in Maryland, be loud. Your half of the Chesapeake Bay is suffering because of our stupidity in Virginia.
JOIN THE FIGHT
If you are ready to get in this fight, join the private Facebook group "Menhaden, Little Fish, Big Deal". It's free and easy, there are no dues or donations. Numbers count, we need you to help grow the ranks. We look forward to meeting you.
More information is on the way! Stay tuned. Follow the Facebook page "Save Our Menhaden".
Read these two articles on the Atlantic and Gulf fisheries to get an overview of the issue:
https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/05/23/the-battle-for-menhaden-corporate-greed-threatens-the-chesapeake-bay/
https://www.nola.com/news/environment/theyre-taking-everything-banned-in-other-states-pogy-ships-catch-all-they-want-in-louisiana/article_e5e151d6-d2e5-11ec-b93b-d36274b6c562.html
Then google "menhaden reduction fishing" to learn even more.
SHARE WHAT YOU LEARN
Tell your friends, family and co-workers about reduction fishing. The reason this industry still exists, and politicians remain quiet is because few people know it even goes on.
If you belong to an organization, group, association, church or company that might be concerned about this issue, approach your leadership and see if they want to learn more.
If you are on social media, share your opinion. Like, dislike, comment on and share posts you see related to menhaden. Remember to be civil and factual. Negative comments can be good, especially on a foes feed, but be smart, and be correct in your statements.
TALK TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
If you live in Virginia, Louisiana or Mississippi, ask your elected state officials, your Governor, and your Federal level Senators and Congressman where they stand on the issue. We need them to be on record as to which side of the fight they are on. If they have never heard of it, tell them what you know. If you live in another state, ask your Federally elected officials and your Governors. This is a battle being fought at both the state level in Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi, and the Federal Level. https://www.saveourmenhaden.org/government-contacts.html
If you live in Maryland, be loud. Your half of the Chesapeake Bay is suffering because of our stupidity in Virginia.
JOIN THE FIGHT
If you are ready to get in this fight, join the private Facebook group "Menhaden, Little Fish, Big Deal". It's free and easy, there are no dues or donations. Numbers count, we need you to help grow the ranks. We look forward to meeting you.
More information is on the way! Stay tuned. Follow the Facebook page "Save Our Menhaden".
We Need to Ban Reduction Fishing in American Waters.
Manage menhaden fisheries for maximum abundance, not minimal sustainability.
Menhaden entrails, raw feces and urine discharge from a reduction fishing vessel. This is not a few fish parts thrown overboard, we are talking about millions upon millions of gallons of a oxygen depleted slurry released in our waters every season.
