Del. Paul Milde is concerned that a lack of a small, oily fish could be causing the collapse of the osprey population in the Chesapeake Bay, and he says the Democratic majority in the House of Delegates isn’t helping matters.
Milde (R-Stafford) continues to push legislative efforts to have a study of menhaden fishing done as new research suggests that declining numbers of the species, which osprey eat, could be leading to a drop in the population of the birds.
The lawmaker issued a statement late last month saying inaction on scrutiny of the menhaden is a result of partisan politics.
“I introduced legislation this year to study and give us answers about what is happening to the fish population that feeds the osprey,” Milde said in the statement. “But because it’s always about partisan politics, Democrats left my bill in committee without even a hearing.”
Del. Paul Milde (R-Stafford)
Milde said his legislation, House Bill 2713, and a companion budget amendment would have provided $3 million for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to conduct a comprehensive, three-year study on the ecology, fishery impacts and economic significance of Atlantic menhaden. The findings would have been reported to the secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and the chairmen of the state Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources by Oct. 1, 2028.
“Everyone talks about saving the Chesapeake Bay, recognizing its critical importance to our environment and economy,” Milde said. “Voters expect their elected leaders to collaborate for the common good of the Commonwealth. Here I am, a conservative Republican, committed to environmental protection. Why won’t Democratic leadership join me in this effort?”
The House Democratic Caucus could not be reached for comment.
Political contributions muddy waters
Reedville-based Omega Protein, which makes fish oil products, is the main beneficiary of menhaden fishing in Virginia, and it’s no stranger to politics.
The company has given $955,783 to Virginia political campaigns since 1996, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics.
That total includes money given to politicians on both sides of the aisle. The company, for example, has donated $38,000 to the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus over the years, and $34,500 to the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus, according to VPAP.
Locally, Omega Protein has given $32,843 over the years to state Sen. Richard Stuart, a Westmoreland County Republican whose 25th District includes Caroline and King George counties.
And this year alone, the business has given $500 to Del. Joshua Cole (D-Stafford).
Milde, however, said he will not accept contributions from Omega Protein.
New research documents decline
About the time that Milde issued his menhaden statement, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation put out a statement of its own, pointing to research that suggests there are fewer osprey because of a lack of menhaden.
The organization said a May survey by Bryan Watts of The College of William and Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology documented a 90% decline of nesting osprey on Virginia’s Delmarva Peninsula.
The Center for Conservation Biology concluded the “most likely cause of the decline is prey availability,” the foundation said.
It also said that the decline in nesting adult osprey adds to a recent trend of osprey chicks starving in their nests across the tidal portions of the Chesapeake Bay.
And it said that the U.S. Geological Survey corroborated the notion of the osprey decline in a recent letter to Congress.
Virginia is the only state along the East Coast that allows industrial menhaden fishing, the foundation said, and Omega Protein benefits from harvests of well more than 100 million pounds of menhaden from the Commonwealth’s waters each year.
“Had Omega Protein not consistently opposed menhaden science, Virginia would be developing better answers on ecology and fishery impacts during these challenging times,” Chris Moore, Virginia executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said in the statement. “No company blocks science with the best interest of the public and the environment at heart.
Moore said it’s time for Virginia to act.
“Virginia must take this challenge head-on and consider opportunities to ensure enough menhaden are in state waters when osprey and other vulnerable predators need menhaden,” he said.
Two sides of the menhaden story
Milde thinks that some of his colleagues may support his quest for approval of a menhaden study.
“There’s a lot of people who quietly think it’s a good idea,” he said in an interview with the Free Press.
He said his father was involved with shrimp fishing in Biloxi, Mississippi, so he’s sympathetic to the fishing industry.
However, he said, “at some point, if you start running out of one kind of fish, it’s time to take another look.”
Steve Atkinson, chairman of the nonprofit Virginia Saltwater Sportfishing Association, was the person who brought the menhaden issue to Milde.
He noted the politicization of the menhaden, saying the corporate fishing industry lobbies against regulation, as does organized labor, which is concerned about the potential of losing union jobs.
But the menhaden are food not only for osprey, but for striped bass, trout, red drum, whales, dolphins, porpoises and other aquatic life, Atkinson said.
“Most of the politicians, unfortunately, don’t understand the importance of these fish,” he said.
Atkinson said he hopes that, as more people find out about the menhaden situation, they will put more pressure on elected officials not to accept campaign donations from the industry.
“This is a classic example of an issue that should be bipartisan,” he said.
While critics of Omega Protein say that overfishing is the reason for declining menhaden numbers, a spokesman for the company’s fishing partner denies the accusation.
“No one with any credibility says it’s overfishing,” said Ben Landry, vice president of public affairs for Ocean Harvesters.
It’s hard to judge how many menhaden are in the Chesapeake Bay because the fish are migratory, he said.
But, he said, “this is a healthy fishery. Period.”
Landry said the Omega/Ocean Harvesters operation is happy to be a part of a menhaden study, but it wants to make sure the science involved is solid.
“We have a long history of supporting science in the Bay as well as the Atlantic coast as a whole,” he said.
Federal intervention?
There could be a wild card in the menhaden debate, however: President Donald Trump.
Trump on July 5 shared a more-than-four-minute video to his social media platform, Truth Social, that seems to suggest federal regulation of the menhaden could be on the way.
It shows a handful of speakers — including Atkinson — expressing concern about menhaden fishing being dominated by a Canadian company, though it doesn’t specifically name Omega Protein, which is owned by Canada-based Cooke Inc., a global seafood business.
In the video, Atkinson describes the menhaden this way: “Economically, it’s probably the most important, most valuable, fish we have on the East Coast.”
Besides being used in fish-oil products, menhaden are used as bait when catching other fish, and the video describes a dire scenario in two states, Virginia and Louisiana.
“Ending industrial bait fishing in the Atlantic and Gulf of America would be the single most significant presidential action ever to elevate the U.S. fishing economy,” a message near the end of the video says.
