The Chesapeake Bay is the largest breeding ground of ospreys in the world.  Osprey is sentinel of aquatic systems because: 

•99% fish-eating diet —At the top of Aquatic Food Chain

•Long-lived (typically 7-10 years)

•Strong nest fidelity—ospreys come back to the same area where they were born.

•Highly visible nests at regular intervals 

•Nearly a worldwide distribution (for comparative analysis)

The crucial time for osprey chicks to survive is between March and July: the newly born need to eat fish-menhaden to survive.  If the parents cannot catch fish-menhaden, the chicks simply starve to death.  In June 2022 researchers of the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary found that only three chicks were alive among 68 nests surveyed in the Mobjack Bay.  In June 2023 only 21 chicks were alive in the lower Chesapeake Bay.  In 2024 their observation of 511 osprey nests showed that the bird’s reproductive rate in the middle stem of the Bay was only 0.55 young per pair, while the osprey  population maintenance level must be higher than 1.15. This drastically low reproductively rate is worse than the worst year of the DDT usage I the 1950s and 60s. 

I support this petition and want  the seasonal banning of menhaden industrial fishing in the Bay areas .