Menhaden Comment Deadline Is October 9: Tell ASMFC Where You Stand on the Chesapeake Bay Cap

MENHADEN COMMENT DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 9. HERE IS WHAT IS ON THE TABLE.

September 20, 2026. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is taking public comment on Draft Addendum II for Atlantic menhaden. It is about one thing: how much menhaden the reduction fleet gets to take out of the Chesapeake Bay, and when.

You have until 11:59 PM on Thursday, October 9, 2026 to say something about it. This post lays out the options and every way to get a comment in.

WHY A FLORIDA KEYS FISHING GROUP CARES ABOUT THE CHESAPEAKE

Menhaden are the bait. Pogies, bunker, whatever you call them where you fish, they are the fish that everything else eats. Striped bass, bluefish, king mackerel, cobia, tarpon, tuna, ospreys, whales. The Chesapeake Bay is the biggest nursery for Atlantic menhaden on the coast, and it is also the only place on the Atlantic coast where an industrial reduction fleet is still allowed to net them by the boatload and grind them into fish meal and oil.

S.A.F.E. has been on menhaden since 2017, and we pushed for ecological reference points in 2022 so the stock gets managed for the predators that depend on it, not just for the reduction plant. This addendum is the next round of that fight. What happens in the Bay does not stay in the Bay. Those fish migrate up and down the coast, and the forage base up there is the same forage base our pelagics follow.

WHAT DRAFT ADDENDUM II ACTUALLY PROPOSES

There are three pieces, and the Board can pick from each one.

1. Lower the Bay Cap. The cap on reduction harvest inside the Chesapeake has been 51,000 metric tons since Amendment 3. The draft puts five choices in front of the public: leave it alone, or cut it by 10, 20, 30, or 50 percent.

2. Tie the cap to the coastwide quota. Right now the Bay Cap is a fixed number. When the coastwide total allowable catch goes up or down, the cap does not move with it. One set of options links the two so the Bay stays a fixed share of the coastwide total instead of a standalone figure.

3. Spread the harvest across the season. Most of the reduction harvest inside the Bay happens in spring and early summer, which is exactly when menhaden are schooled up and when the predators and the recreational fleet want them there. Another set of options splits the Bay Cap into three quota periods so the fleet cannot take the whole year's allowance in a few months.

The Commission's stated reason for all of this is to "alleviate a concentration of effort that may be affecting other fisheries within the Bay and other potential ecological impacts." That is bureaucrat language for what fishermen have been saying for years.

HOW TO COMMENT

ASMFC says every form of comment carries the same weight. Pick whichever you will actually finish.

There is also one public hearing left that anyone can attend: a virtual general public hearing on Thursday, October 1, 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Registration details are on the ASMFC Addendum II page, along with the full draft document.

WHAT TO SAY

You do not need to be a scientist. The Board hears from the reduction industry every single meeting. What it does not hear enough of is fishermen describing what they see.

• Tell them who you are and how long you have fished.
• Say which option you support under each section and why. If you fish the Keys and want them to know the Bay matters to you anyway, say that.
• Describe what you have seen on the water. Bait, birds, predators, changes over the years. Your observations are the evidence.
• Keep it in your own words. Two honest paragraphs beat two pages of copied talking points.

Jon Reynolds, our president, put it this way in the note that went out to members last week:

"Your comments may include your experience on the water, observations about menhaden, and your views on the management options under consideration."

That is the whole assignment. Deadline is October 9. Go do it, then tell us you did.

Questions about the addendum or want help drafting your comment? Reach the board at SAFEFishingOrg@gmail.com. Not a member yet? Join the fight.

Photo: Atlantic menhaden, courtesy Virginia Institute of Marine Science.