How is Atlantic menhaden harvested in the Bay?
Atlantic menhaden are typically caught using purse seines, then processed into oil or fish meal (called reduction). The Bay’s major fishery and reduction industry for menhaden is located in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake. Menhaden are also caught with pound nets in a bait fishery in the Potomac River and the Maryland portion of the Bay. More pounds of menhaden are landed each year than any other fish in the Bay. Menhaden—along with blue crabs—have dominated the Bay’s commercial fisheries during the past 60 years. In 2006, 376 million pounds of menhaden were caught in Maryland and Virginia waters (both Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean), valued at approximately $22.8 million. Is the Bay’s Atlantic menhaden population declining? Chesapeake-specific population estimates for menhaden are not currently produced; estimates are only made for the entire Atlantic coast stock, which appears to be healthy. Still, scientists are concerned about what appears to be a low abundance of menhade
