The International Osprey Foundation (TIOF) strongly supports a precautionary moratorium in the Bay on the reduction of purse seine fishery. Since 1981, TIOF”s mission has been to preserve and protect osprey, sponsor science-based research, and inform policy-makers and the public on the issues and threats affecting ospreys. The peer-reviewed science as published on January 8, 2024 in FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE, could not be more clear. 

“A significant relationship between reproductive rate and the menhaden index suggests that osprey population viability requires that the menhaden stock be restored to 1980’s level.”

Osprey recovery, following the ban on DDT, was one of the greatest conservation successes of the 20th century. Ospreys are broadly recognized as a sentinel species on the health of the environment. TIOF’s experience is that when the world’s largest osprey breeding population’s reproduction is adversely impacted, to the astonishing extent that the research shows, there is a clear and present danger to the environment they share with multiple Bay species, and indeed, our own human species. VMRC has unfortunately not enforced the Virginia Code 28.2-03 for decades by not applying “conservation and management measures based on the best scientific, economic, biological and sociological information available.” 

Thankfully, we heeded the osprey’s stark warning about DDT. We urge you to listen to the message that they are once again sending us, and give this petition your most thoughtful consideration. The Chesapeake Bay, and all it protects and nurtures, is counting on you.