The petition for rulemaking under consideration is unsupported by science.  It is being promulgated by individuals and groups that simply refuse to look at the facts and data concerning this fishery.  Just last year, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced that juvenile menhaden abundance in 2023 and 2024 was at the highest measured since 1990.  The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has continued to find that overfishing is not occurring, and the menhaden stock is not overfished. 

This petition is just one more example of special interests and foundations funded by wealthy elites continuing their campaign to harm the menhaden reduction fishery.  In doing so, they overlook that this is a sustainable commercial fishery.  The science and data does not support their claims.  They also ignore that this fishery has been in existence for well over a hundred years, and it serves as one of the largest employers in the Northern Neck.  It is part of the lifeblood of rural Virginia.  

Decisions about the fishery must be based on scientific data, not misguided and uninformed opinions that seek only to wreak havoc on this community of commercial watermen and the local economy.  I respectfully ask the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to reject this petition outright.