Menhaden are one of the few animals that convert these nutrients to usable protein. This protein then becomes the base food source for many other animals in the bay.
Removing huge amounts of this basic food source weakens the continued viability of the remaining animals of the bay.
It is akin to farming the same soil with the same crops year after year. Eventually the soil becomes depleted and no longer produces adequate crops.
It is common knowledge the bay is becoming depleted of many fish stocks.
It makes no sense to continue the heavy mining of this basic food source if we are truly concerned with the overall health of the bay.
Leave the menhaden in the bay. Before their heavy exploitation by man the bay was an extremely fruitful estuary.
