Debate has raged up and down the East Coast this year over a small fish that plays a mighty role in the marine ecosystem: Atlantic menhaden, also known as bunker or pogies.
This week, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to reduce the total menhaden catch limit along the Atlantic coastline, beginning with a 9 percent cut in 2027 and rising to a 17 percent cut in 2028, compared with the current limit. The measure was proposed by Maine’s delegation to the commission as a compromise between the status quo supported by commercial fishermen and steeper cuts sought by conservationists. At its next meeting in January, the commission will discuss how to allocate the new quota state by state.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission regulates nearshore fisheries shared by the East Coast states from Maine to Florida.
Menhaden are an important food source for larger marine species such as striped bass and for birds of prey such as ospreys. The Atlantic striped bass population has been failing to reproduce for nearly a decade, and ospreys have also recently shown signs of decline. As a result, concern has been mounting about the management of the menhaden fishery.
The reduced catch limit “is a step in the right direction” to protect menhaden and those that depend on it, said Nick Lund, Maine Audubon’s advocacy and outreach manager. “We will continue to look to science to determine the correct next steps.”
Menhaden have become the preferred bait for lobster fishermen as herring quotas have been cut. As a result, New England fishermen have been catching and buying more and more menhaden in recent years. The fish are more affordable than frozen bait imported from other countries, and provide extra income for people who catch both lobster and menhaden.
Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, told The Maine Monitor she was disappointed that the commission reduced the overall catch limit but relieved that the compromise was less restrictive than other proposals.
Splitting the reduction across two years will help the fishery adjust, McCarron added.
“To have to take the full cut in one year would be very difficult,” she said.
While the bait fish industry is growing, it’s still small compared with a different industry in Virginia that reduces or cooks down menhaden to produce oil for omega-3 fatty acid supplements and protein for pet food. The industry has a long history in the United States, but only one facility is left: a processing plant in Reedville, Virginia, owned by Omega Protein, a subsidiary of Canada’s Cooke Inc.
The coastwide catch limit for menhaden in 2026 is 186,840 metric tons, down from 233,550 in 2025. In reality, commercial fishermen had caught a little less than 147,000 metric tons in 2025. Conservationists attributed this shortfall to a lack of menhaden in the ocean, while fishermen said they had fewer fishing days due to bad weather.
The limit in 2027 will be 170,000 metric tons, falling to 155,000 in 2028.
States are allocated their portions according to their historic fishing patterns. Maine is currently entitled to 4.8 percent of the total quota. Virginia is entitled to the vast majority of the catch, at just over 75 percent.
Maine has been fishing well above its quota for the past several years, which it is allowed to do by receiving quota transfers from other states and by taking advantage of “episodic events” when more menhaden were found in Maine waters than expected. In 2025, Maine’s actual landings were nearly 10 percent of the coastwide total.
In the months leading up to this week’s meeting, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission received more than 48,000 public comments about how the menhaden fishery should be regulated over the next few years. Most were in favor of lowering the coastwide fishing quota by 40 percent as well as placing special limits on fishing in Chesapeake Bay, the nursery habitat for both menhaden and its predators.
Those who work in and around the commercial fishing industry spoke up in favor of keeping the status quo.
Suzannah Raber, a bait dealer who owns the New England Fish Company in Portland, said at the Nov. 10 meeting that cutting the catch limit would cause a serious bait shortage in Maine and New England. She pointed out that many lobster fishermen have come to depend on menhaden as a second source of income.
“The lobstermen very much need menhaden to survive. It accounts for a lot of their income now,” she said.
Several New Englanders who spoke said they had seen plenty of fish in the Gulf of Maine and hypothesized that climate change is sending menhaden north.
“The fish are moving north. The waters are warming,” said Doug McQuarrie, a menhaden harvester in Maine.
Because of menhaden’s role in the ecosystem, the fishery is not meant to be managed in isolation but in tandem with other species such as striped bass. The 40 percent catch reduction supported by many who submitted public comment, as well as some of the states, would have minimized the probability of menhaden fishing negatively impacting striped bass and other predators.
The catch limit that was ultimately approved “abandoned” that ecological framework, Tony Friedrich, president and policy director of the American Saltwater Guides Association, said in an interview. He criticized the commission as caving in to pressure from the commercial fishing industry, saying the organization has let other fisheries it managed collapse in the past, such as cod and Northern shrimp.
“If we just give Mother Nature a chance, things can come back unless you exploit them to a tipping point,” Friedrich said.
Some commissioners, particularly those from Virginia, argued that the menhaden fishery is already managed conservatively. Several commissioners spoke about the need to balance ecological needs with the socioeconomic impact of their decision. Virginia, as well as Maine, had initially wanted to keep the current coastwide catch limit.
Ultimately, a narrow majority of states — Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, along with representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission — voted for the 17 percent cuts by 2028.
States that had wanted steeper cuts — Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, North Carolina and Florida — voted against the measure.
The commission reconvened on Nov. 11 to discuss a special cap for fishing within Chesapeake Bay and voted to set this cap at 21.8 percent of the total coastwide limit. Only Virginia and the representatives from federal agencies voted against this measure.
Many acknowledged that this cap is a precaution and that more scientific research on menhaden is needed.
Congress recently appropriated $2.5 million for research on these fish and their role in the ecosystem and the economy, to be distributed to scientists through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The commission will issue a request for proposals in the next few weeks, and will coordinate with the Virginia Institute for Marine Science, which is receiving $2 million appropriated from the Virginia state legislature for similar research. Preliminary findings are expected in 2028.
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This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
