Omega Protein is overharvesting Atlantic menhaden in both the Chesapeake Bay and its entrance.  Overharvesting of menhaden results in the starvation of economically important predator fish like striped bass, and birds like osprey which are dependent on menhaden for their survival.  When there are insufficient menhaden in the marine ecosystem, striped bass and osprey starve to death.

Overharvesting menhaden has resulted in billions of dollars of lost revenue and thousands of jobs in the US fishing industry for both commercial bait fishermen and recreational fishermen along the Atlantic Coast.  It has also resulted in an ecological disaster in the Chesapeake Bay.

Omega Protein is a subsidiary of Cooke Seafood, an international corporation headquartered in Canada.  Omega Protein is the last remaining industrial reduction fishery on the Atlantic Coast.  The company uses aircraft to spot schools of fish and purse seine nets to harvest entire schools of fish.

The VMRC is in violation of Virginia law as it has allocated 90% of its total Atlantic menhaden quota to Omega Protein to the detriment of Virginia and Maryland commercial bait fishermen and recreational fishermen.  This clearly a "Canada First" fishing policy.

The solution to this problem is to end all industrial reduction harvesting in Virginia waters as the decline in the US fishing industry and marine ecology is ongoing.