Bryan Watts stepped on an ancient wooden duck shutter in the middle of the York River and looked down at a circle of sticks and pine on a weathered, stolen crumbled platform. This is a failed osprey nest, taken over by a diving tern.
“I’ve never lie here this year,” Watts said near the mouth of Virginia. Chesapeake Bay. “This is a pattern we’ve been seeing over the past few years.”
Watt and osprey More than most people have a bird – he has climbed up the nest, released them from plastic bags, fed them by his hands, and monitored their eggs with a mirror of a telescope.
Raptors, known for gymnastic diving and whistling, are American conservation success stories. In almost all parts of the country, the hawk-like bird rebounded after banning DDT in 1972 and is now in the U.S.
But Watt recorded a shocking trend. Birds bred in many parts of the United States failed to successfully lift enough chicks in the key population center of the Chesapeake Bay. Long-term biologists blame Menhaden’s decline on the small elementary school fish is crucial to the osprey diet. Watts said eating without Meharden, the chicks starved and died in the nest.
Osprey is an environmental indicator
Watts’s claims have left him in conflict with environmental groups with the fishing industry, trade unions and sometimes government regulators. Menhaden is valuable for fish oil, fish meal and agricultural foods, as well as baits.
Since 1951, American fishermen have captured at least 1.1 billion pounds of Meharden each year.
But if it doesn’t help, the Osprey population may drop to levels not seen since the dark days DDTWatts said Watts, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at Williamsburg, Virginia.
“The osprey yelled, ‘Hey, there aren’t enough menhadens to reproduce successfully,” Watts said. “We should listen to them so that we can fully understand the fisheries and we should take precautions in fisheries management. But that’s not won at the moment.”
Decline of association with Menhaden in study
Watts Journal. He said that boils down to a simple statistic – to maintain the population, the Osprey pair needs an average of 1.15 chicks per year.
Watts said the osprey bred at that level in the 1980s, but today, in some areas around the main stem of Chesapeake, it is less than halfway. He said that in particularly frustrating areas, they didn’t even breed at a tenth level. Watts said Meharden’s available decline matched the area where nesting failed.
Greasy Menhaden, also known as Pogies or Bunkers, is particularly important for young birds because they are more nutritious than other fish in the sea. Osprey “Reproductive performance is inseparable from the availability and richness of Menhaden,” Watts wrote in his 2023 study Published in the field of marine science.
Protectionists have been worried for years, saying too many Mehardens have been removed to maintain a critical role in the ocean food chain. Historian H. Bruce Franklin even wrote for his 2007 book on Menhaden ocean. ”
The fishing industry pushes back
Menhaden helps maintain one of the world’s largest fisheries, worth over $200 million on the docks in 2023. Used as bait, fish is crucial for valuable business goals such as Maine lobster. They are also loved by Sportfishermen.
The modern industry is dominated by Omega Protein in Reedville, Virginia, a subsidiary of Canadian aquaculture giant Cooke. Menhaden’s harvest was conducted by Ocean Harvesters, an American company based in Reedville and contracted with Omega, which handles processing. The two companies believe fishing is the cause of the decline of small fish, although they do admit that there are few Menhadens in certain parts of the Gulf.
Omega spokesman Ben Landry said federal data showed that osprey breeding is declining in many parts of the country, including places where there is no harvest at all. Landry and other companies say climate change, pollution and development may play a role.
Landry said blaming fishing “is just an impact on the environment’s special interests that has had an impact on the process.”
New rules may be on the way
Menhaden Fisheries is managed by the Atlantic National Marine Fisheries Commission, an interstate agency that dominates the itinerary and sets fishing quotas. Tipped by questions about Osprey, it created a working group to address preventive management of Chesapeake Bay species.
In April, the team proposed several potential management methods, including seasonal closures, restrictions on quotas or number of days at sea, and restrictions on fishing gear. James Boyle, coordinator of the committee’s fishery management plan, said the process of setting new rules could begin this summer.
Boyle said the osprey population has indeed shown a decline in certain regions since 2012, but it is important to remember that the population of birds is much larger than before DDT was banned.
“The Osprey population has grown significantly since the DDT era,” Boyle said, and federal data shows that the population of Osprey along the Atlantic coast has increased sixfold since the 1960s.
Environmentalists say Bird’s decline could worsen
For many environmental groups, any decline is too much. This angered some labor leaders who feared losing more jobs as the fishing industry declined.
Kenny Pinkard, retired vice president of the UFCW Local 400 executive committee, said he believes the industry is being replaced.
“Some people don’t want to see our business at all,” he said.
But Chris Moore, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Virginia, said the country has a risk of taking any action to the iconic birds. He said Watts’ research shows that the osprey will fail without having to contact Menhaden.
“Osprey has always been a success story,” Moore said. “We’re in a situation where they haven’t replaced their numbers. We’re actually in a situation where they’re down sharply.”
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Whittle reports from Portland, Maine.
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This story is supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. AP is responsible for all content.
