Menhaden are a keystone specie in the Chesapeake Bay. Both fish and birds rely on them to sustain life. The Bay's saltwater anglers, charter captains, bird watchers and numerous businesses continue their sharp decline as the breaking of the Bay's food web continues with industrial menhaden fishing.

The Chesapeake Bay WAS the greatest breeding ground in the world for osprey, and 2023's breeding season was scientifically documented as unsustainable for osprey. The breeding numbers were far below carrying capacity, and was worse than the height of DDT. Can you imagine actually saying we are now witnessing a DDT like breeding problem? Osprey chicks are starving, and the adults cannot sustain themselves due to a direct link to the lack of menhaden. 

In 2024, protection of menhaden in essential to reestablishing the Chesapeake Bay as a world class fishery and breeding ground for the iconic osprey. 

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