WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / August 20, 2026 / The Washington Post today published an opinion column by Mark Robichaux which misleadingly portrayed Atlantic and Gulf menhaden fisheries as ecologically destructive, weakly regulated and headed toward crisis. Readers unfamiliar with these fisheries may likely come away believing that menhaden stocks are collapsing, predators are being starved by commercial fishing, and regulators have largely failed to act. Which was Mr. Robichaux’s point.
That is not what the record shows. But just as troubling is that Mr. Robichaux and Washington Post opinion editors were provided with substantial information prior to publication addressing the menhaden stock, menhaden management, and the latest menhaden science. Nevertheless, the final column still contains factual errors, misleading source use and conclusions that go beyond what the cited science establishes.
This is not the first time Mr. Robichaux has used the Washington Post’s opinion pages to advance a crisis narrative about menhaden. In a November 20, 2025 column, he wrote that menhaden were “disappearing,” warned that striped bass could be “next to vanish,” and said the ecosystem was being pushed toward collapse. Today’s column repeats much of that same argument and adds new claims about osprey, Maine bait supply, Chesapeake Bay harvest and Gulf management. Both columns repeatedly blur the line between advocacy and what the underlying science actually establishes. Despite the Post prominently noting Mr. Robichaux’s tenure at the Wall Street Journal from twenty-five years ago, this most recent piece has the tone of a special interest group press release rather than the work of a journalist.
1. Atlantic menhaden are not a stock on the verge of disappearing.
According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Atlantic menhaden are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring, based on the Commission’s 2025 stock assessment update. Even with this finding, managers still reduced the 2026 coastwide allowable catch by 20 percent to ensure a 0 percent chance of overfishing. While some argue that management should be even more precautionary, that is very different from suggesting the coastwide stock is in crisis.
2. The column misstates what the ecosystem target means.
Mr. Robichaux emphasizes that a harvest cut of roughly 50 percent or more would be needed to move fishing mortality toward the ecosystem-based target. That is true, and it sounds terrible, but only because he leaves out half the story. As is explained on the ASMFC FAQs, fisheries managers receive both an ecological target and an ecological threshold from their scientists. The target is a more conservative management objective; the threshold is the ecological overfishing line. Fishing between the two does not constitute overfishing, and the adopted 2026 catch level was projected to have a zero percent probability of exceeding the ecological overfishing threshold. The lower target may be a policy preference for some observers, but it is not accurate to describe it as the minimum level predators simply “need.” Had the ASMFC done nothing at its October 2025 meeting, the stock would still continue to be healthy, and overfishing would not be occurring. Mr. Robichaux either didn’t understand this or ignored this to drive home his flawed personal opinion.
3. Osprey science doesn’t show commercial harvest caused the problem.
The peer-reviewed osprey study documents serious reproductive deficits and food stress in parts of the Chesapeake Bay and suggests reduced menhaden availability as a primary driver of this stress in high-salinity areas. But the study also says that the data needed to determine the effect of commercial harvest on adult menhaden abundance in the Bay do not exist. The ASMFC likewise says its coastwide assessment cannot determine the status of the menhaden stock at the Bay level. Mr. Robichaux acknowledges that the study does not establish harvest causation and then argues that the pattern is “hard to read any other way.” That is his inference, not the study’s conclusion.
That research gap is precisely why Bay-specific work is so important and why the industry has supported new research initiatives. Virginia has now funded a dedicated Bay menhaden study, and there is ongoing work involving the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, NOAA and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science aimed at identifying the data needed for a science-based Bay harvest cap. Treating the unanswered local abundance question as already settled undermines the purpose of the research now underway.
4. The Maine bait story points in the opposite direction.
Mr. Robichaux cites tightening bait supplies for Maine lobstermen as part of a broader menhaden scarcity narrative. Yet the article he links is primarily about reduced Atlantic herring quotas. It says menhaden helped replace lost herring supply, describes a strong return of pogies (another term for menhaden) and quotes a bait dealer saying there was “no lack of bait” and “there’s too many pogies!” A source about herring scarcity in which menhaden helped fill the gap should not be used to leave readers with the impression that Maine is experiencing a menhaden shortage. In fact, Maine has fully harvested their menhaden quota for 2026, which would be impossible if you believe Mr. Robichaux’s claims of a scarcity.
5. “Rudderless” ignores the management and regulatory record.
Atlantic menhaden are managed through a coastwide quota, state allocations, ecological reference points, accountability provisions and a separate Chesapeake Bay cap. The ASMFC recently cut the coastwide quota and is currently considering further Bay measures. Even the much-cited 2019 Chesapeake compliance dispute was more complicated than presented: the ASMFC had lowered the Bay cap to 51,000 metric tons while Virginia law still contained the older, higher statutory limit. The ASMFC found Virginia out of compliance with the interstate plan, but the episode reflected a conflict between state law and interstate requirements, not the absence of rules.
Louisiana has likewise adopted buffers, spill reporting rules, retrieval requirements, tracking measures and penalties. The industry has gone above and beyond the regulations on paper. KPLC reported the move toward stronger purse seine nets after the 2023 spills, while The Advocate later reported stronger nets and standardized improved excluder devices designed to keep larger fish, including redfish, out of the pumping system.
A Louisiana state-funded study adds important context to the bycatch issue: for 2015-2024 removals by weight, the menhaden fishery’s red drum bycatch accounted for 9.9 percent of total fishery removals, compared with 90.1 percent from recreational harvest and dead discards. For spotted seatrout, the menhaden share was 2.7 percent. Those numbers show that the column presents an incomplete picture when it treats spills and commercial bycatch as if they define the entire fishery.
6. Commercial use is not evidence of biological unsustainability.
NOAA’s Atlantic menhaden page explains that the menhaden reduction fishery produces fishmeal, fish oil and solubles used in aquaculture, animal feeds and human nutritional supplements. Those are important products, and the fishery supports vessels, processing and waterfront jobs. The ASMFC has also evaluated the economic and employment effects of quota reductions; management decisions affect not only vessels and plants, but also shoreside suppliers, transportation, maintenance and communities built around commercial fishing. Whether a fish becomes meal or oil does not determine whether the harvest is sustainable; stock assessments and management reference points do.
The Post had the opportunity to get these distinctions right.
Before publication, Mr. Robichaux was provided detailed information explaining that Atlantic menhaden are not overfished; that the ecological target and threshold mean different things; that the osprey research does not show commercial harvest causation; that Bay-specific science remains incomplete; and that substantial management, compliance and mitigation measures are already in place. Washington Post opinion editors were separately provided those concerns before the column appeared.
The final piece nevertheless leaves readers with several of the same misleading impressions. These disputed points were not obscure details discovered only after publication but were among the central factual distinctions raised in advance.
Menhaden should be managed carefully. Bay-specific research should continue. Gulf operators should keep reducing bycatch and preventing spills. But precautionary management does not require overstating what the evidence shows. This issue is too important to treat advocacy and science as one and the same.
Sources and Links
ASMFC Atlantic Menhaden: https://asmfc.org/species/atlantic-menhaden/
ASMFC 2025 Stock Assessment Update: https://asmfc.org/resources/stock-assessment/2025-atlantic-menhaden-stock-assessment-update/
ASMFC Atlantic Menhaden FAQs: https://asmfc.org/news/fact-check/atlantic-menhaden-faqs/
ASMFC 2026 TAC Decision: https://asmfc.org/news/press-releases/asmfc-atlantic-menhaden-board-reduces-2026-tac-by-20-and-initiates-addendum-for-chesapeake-bay-cap/
Frontiers in Marine Science Osprey Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2026.1685158/full
Center for Conservation Biology Mobjack Bay Page: https://ccbbirds.org/2023/07/14/the-center-for-conservation-biology-documents-unprecedented-osprey-nest-failures-within-the-lower-chesapeake-bay/
WFXR Chesapeake Menhaden Research Funding Story: https://www.wfxrtv.com/news/outdoors-bound/after-four-years-atlantic-menhaden-study-funding-finally-in-place/
Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance Bait Article: https://www.mlcalliance.org/post/herring-quota-decline-transforms-maine-s-bait-business
ASMFC Draft Addendum II: https://asmfc.org/actions/atlantic-menhaden-draft-addendum-ii/
National Fisherman 2019 Chesapeake Bay Cap Report: https://www.nationalfisherman.com/mid-atlantic/atlantic-states-commission-says-omega-violated-menhaden-limit
KPLC 2023 Spill / Stronger Nets Report: https://www.kplctv.com/2023/09/20/net-tears-cause-large-fish-spills-near-holly-beach/
The Advocate Louisiana Bycatch / Gear Report: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/environment/louisiana-fishing-menhaden-pogy-redfish-speckled-trout/article_79121240-156e-5a7c-bc88-de48517dc5cf.html
LDWF 2024 Menhaden Rule Action: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/news/lwf-commission-amends-notice-of-intent-to-modify-rules-for-menhaden-fishery
LDWF 2023 Menhaden Rule Proposal: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/news/lwfc-passes-noi-to-modify-rules-for-menhaden-fishery
LDWF Menhaden Bycatch Study Results: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/news/menhaden-bycatch-study-results-presented-by-lgl-ecological-research-associates
NOAA Atlantic Menhaden: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/atlantic-menhaden
ASMFC Economics and Social Sciences Memo: https://asmfc.org/resources/management-technical-committee/committee-on-economics-and-social-sciences-memo-to-atlantic-menhaden-board/
About the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.
Press Contact
Menhaden Fisheries Coalition
(202) 595-1212
www.menhaden.org
SOURCE: Menhaden Fisheries Coalition
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
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