ASMFC cuts menhaden catch limit to 170,000 mt for 2027 and lowers the Chesapeake Bay cap
The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board set coastwide quotas of 170,000 metric tons for 2027 and 155,000 for 2028 and approved Addendum II, which ties the Chesapeake Bay reduction cap to the coastwide total. The 2027 quota takes effect January 1; the Bay cap takes effect May 1, 2027.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Atlantic Menhaden Management Board cut the coastwide total allowable catch (TAC) for menhaden to 170,000 metric tons in 2027 and 155,000 metric tons in 2028. ASMFC describes that as a 17% reduction from the 2026 TAC and a 34% reduction from the 2025 TAC over the two years.
The board also approved Addendum II to Amendment 3 of the interstate menhaden plan. Until now, the Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap was a static 51,000 metric tons. The addendum sets it at 21.8% of the coastwide TAC, with a maximum of 51,000 metric tons. Under the quotas above, that works out to 37,123 metric tons in 2027 and 33,847 metric tons in 2028. The board will revisit the Bay cap at least every three years.
Timing: the 2027 TAC is effective January 1, 2027. The Bay cap becomes effective May 1, 2027, ahead of the Chesapeake reduction fishing season.
ASMFC says projections show these TACs carry a 0% chance of overfishing in 2027 and 2028, but still leave a high probability that fishing mortality stays above the Ecological Reference Point (ERP) F target. In its words, the board picked levels meant to move closer to that target while limiting some of the socioeconomic harm to menhaden fisheries and to fisheries that use menhaden for bait.
Board Chair Joe Cimino of New Jersey said the board received more than 48,000 comments from both sides, those wanting more menhaden left in the water as forage and those defending harvesters' livelihoods. ASMFC says the Bay cap action reflects concern over the effect of reduction harvest on the ecosystem and other fisheries in the Bay, a nursery ground for striped bass among other species.
What this means for anglers is indirect and not yet measurable. Menhaden, called bunker along the coast, are the main forage that striped bass and bluefish chase in the fall, and they are also a common bait. The press release does not predict fishing results or bait prices, and we are not inferring any. Any effect would show up after the 2027 season starts, and it depends on how the commercial fleet and other forage respond.
This is the board's adopted action as described in ASMFC's press release. We have not seen the addendum text itself, which ASMFC says will be posted on the Atlantic menhaden page under News and Resources; check it for the controlling language.
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