Recreational Fishing Groups Must Stop Blaming Menhaden Fishing for Striped Bass Problems
Petition for emergency federal fishing ban ignores scientific findings, abundant juvenile menhaden and recreational fishing mortality
WASHINGTON, D.C. / October 21, 2026 / Eight fishing organizations and businesses have filed a petition with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seeking an immediate emergency prohibition on menhaden reduction fishing in the New York-New Jersey Bight and a permanent seasonal closure from May 1 through December 31 each year.
The Forage Fish Campaign published the petition and an accompanying October 21 press release on its website, with the campaign's spokesperson named as the media contact. The petition, submitted by Roger Fleming of Blue Planet Strategies, seeks sweeping restrictions on an American commercial fishery without demonstrating that reduction fishing caused the problems alleged or that the proposed closure would remedy them.
The petition's claim of an imminent October fishing emergency relies partly on reports from organizations opposed to the reduction fishery. On petition page 26, the authors allege increased fleet activity indicating preparations to return to Bight waters. The supporting footnotes cite Facebook posts attributed to Chesapeake Bay Defenders, most linked posts inaccessible to the public, and personal communications with Menhaden Defenders. The petition supplies no verified October landings or documented fishing plans establishing the predicted surge in harvest.
Ben Landry, spokesperson for Ocean Harvesters, said: "We have only fished above Atlantic City one day during the 2026 fishing season." On that occasion, reduction vessels traveled as far as Ambrose Channel while remaining in federal waters. Spotter aircraft routinely survey fish migrations; their presence is not proof that harvesting has occurred or is imminent. The fleet has not found fishable concentrations north of Atlantic City.
Fluctuations in local menhaden availability are a recognized feature of the fishery. The ASMFC recognizes this reality and defines episodic events as times and places where Atlantic menhaden are more abundant than usual and has established a management program to accommodate such occurrences, including in New York waters. Variations in where menhaden appear do not establish that fishing caused a reported local shortage.
The petitioners seek emergency action under circumstances that do not demonstrate an imminent conservation crisis. NOAA Fisheries' Policy Guidelines for the Use of Emergency Rules require recent, unforeseen events or newly discovered circumstances, a serious conservation or management problem, and immediate benefits sufficient to outweigh the normal public rulemaking process. NOAA's own explanation of those criteria and the underlying Federal Register guidance (62 FR 44421-44422) make clear that an emergency finding requires an evidentiary record. Their supposed October emergency rests on conjecture about fishing that has not been documented, not evidence of the immediate harm asserted. The emergency they describe appears to exist only in the petitioners' minds.