WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESS Newswire / October 27, 2025 / At a Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) event titled "The Impacts of Climate on Fisheries," held on September 24, 2025, at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach, Chris Moore, CBF's Senior Regional Ecosystem Scientist, made several inaccurate statements about the Atlantic menhaden fishery and its management.

The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) issues the following response to clarify the facts and ensure the public record reflects the best available science.

CLAIM: The menhaden industry has blocked Bay-specific science.

FACT:The menhaden industry has a long record of collaborating with scientists and agencies throughout the Atlantic coast, contributing to more than a dozen cooperative studies with universities and NOAA. When new acoustic survey methods were proposed for Bay research, industry representatives supported conducting a pilot study to validate the technology before applying it across the entire Chesapeake. The disagreement was about scientific rigor, not opposition to research.

Today, a Bay-specific research roadmap funded through the Science Center for Marine Fisheries and led by scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, VIMS, and NOAA is underway to design a scientifically defensible Chesapeake Bay menhaden harvest cap, the very type of work Mr. Moore claimed was being prevented.

CLAIM: The ASMFC Technical Committee called for a 50% reduction in harvest to maintain healthy populations.

FACT:No scientific body has issued such a recommendation. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's most recent peer-reviewed assessment concluded that Atlantic menhaden are not overfished and not experiencing overfishing. The current harvest limit is set conservatively using ecological reference points that ensure sufficient menhaden remain in the water to feed predators such as striped bass and ospreys. Demands for a 50% reduction stem from advocacy campaigns, not from Commission scientists.

CLAIM: The latest assessment shows the population dropped by roughly 37%.

FACT:Updates to assessment models are routine as part of the scientific process, but the most recent analyses confirm that menhaden remain abundant and well within sustainable harvest levels. The fishery operates far below the ecological threshold set by the ASMFC and remains certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, one of the world's most respected independent standards for fisheries management.

CLAIM: Menhaden are under stress in the Chesapeake Bay due to climate change.