Only Virginia permits menhaden commercial harvesting
Osprey nests in Virginia’s tidewater area are disappearing due to the reduced availability in the Chesapeake Bay of menhaden, a fish caught by the iconic bird to feed their broods, College of William & Mary researcher Dr. Brian D. Watts told an Urbanna audience. The key osprey food source is also prized by a Reedville-based fishery permitted to harvest menhaden in Virginia waters but not other bay-bordering states.
Dr. Watts presented his findings at a free forum in Urbanna hosted by the Chesapeake Inn July 18. About 40 attendees participated in the discussion. This was the first in the “Spotlight on the Rappahannock” series organized by innkeepers Gari Lister and Matt Gobush. The inaugural forum was co-hosted by Reviving the Rappahannock, a volunteer initiative led by 2025 Urbanna Oyster Festival Queen contestant, Elisabeth Gobush, along with her Little Miss Spat contestant Charlee Parsley.
Ospreys decline
According to a study Dr. Watts co-authored last year, ospreys depend on menhaden for food and their ability to provision their young with the critical forage fish declined 83 percent between 1986 and 2021. This has led to a 75 percent loss rate of osprey young during the same period, up from 15 percent in 1986, he reported. This decline follows a rebound in the birds’ numbers after the pesticide DDT was banned during the 1970s.
Today, however, “there are simply not enough menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay to support a stable osprey population,” Dr. Watts said.
During the discussion, attendees asked Dr. Watts what could be done to reverse the ospreys’ decline. Supplementing ospreys’ diets by leaving caught fish for them to find can be successful, Dr. Watts said, but is a limited solution. A study of menhaden populations in Virginia waters, such as the one authorized by the General Assembly in 2023, would help address the birds’ food stress, but the state legislature failed to fund the study during the last session so research has yet to begin, said Dr. Watts.
Fishery’s role debated
In response to forum questions, Dr. Watts explained how Omega Protein Corporation, headquartered in Reedville, has been and continues to aggressively harvest menhaden in bay waters of Virginia to produce fish oil and fish meal used in pet food and nutritional supplements.
Virginia is the only state bordering the bay that permits menhaden operations, which can result in large catches due to menhaden’s tendency to congregate in large schools, said Dr. Watts. Dr. Watts’ full presentation can be heard on the Chesapeake Inn’s website.
