As advocates push for Chesapeake Bay-specific data, menhaden quota bill advances

by Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury
February 13, 2026

The debate over the oily forage fish menhaden is not over in the General Assembly, as one bill advanced Thursday that would create catch quota periods for the only reduction fishery allowed in the Chesapeake Bay.

House Bill 1049 would create periods of time where the reduction fishery Ocean Harvesters, which contracts with Omega Protein, will be subject to additional caps on how much of the fish they can remove from the Bay. The bill would also require an observer on the vessels to view the harvests during 10% of their trips.

A separate measure, Senate Bill 474, aimed to set up a fund for a Bay-specific study on menhaden to get a better understanding of the species and determine if they are being overfished. That bill failed in committee. 

Congress earmarked $2.5 million in the latest budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to put towards a menhaden study. Still, advocates are pushing for a nearer-term, state-funded study.

“It’s a struggle because we don’t have base science to make good decisions. We have a Bay cap that’s based on historic landings,” said Chris Moore, Virginia executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Ocean Harvesters is currently constrained to a total harvest cap of 51,000 metric tons within the Bay. The maximum amount of fish that fisheries may pull from the Atlantic coast was recently reduced by 20% down to 186,840 metric tons. 

Maryland representatives on the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board have said that too few of the migratory fish travel up the Bay due to the reduction fishery’s operations, which has led to decreased yields for fishermen and species such as osprey to starve. 

Representatives for the fishery emphasizes there is no proof that the fishery is overfishing the Bay or stopping the progression of the menhaden schools into the Bay. 

“I think we just want to make sure that anything is done, is done comprehensively. Let’s get this right,” said Ben Landry with Ocean Fleet Services, who lobbies for the fishery.
”It’s too important to do a short truncated survey. There’s too many jobs at stake.”

Landry said that implementing quota periods will slow down production at the fishery and put the people who work there out of a job. 

HB 1049 moved forward to the House Appropriations committee where it will be up for additional debate.

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