New analysis: No, scientists didn't "recommend" a 54% menhaden cut

December 3, 2025 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

In the weeks since the 2025 ASMFC Annual Meeting, there’s been a widespread misconception circulated by environmental and recreational fishing groups that the ASMFC Menhaden Board’s technical and scientific advisors “recommended” a 50% or 54% cut (to 108,450 mt) to the Atlantic menhaden total allowable catch (TAC), and that the Commission ignored those recommendations. That is not the case. Rather, scientists ran a set of “if–then” scenarios for managers, without making a preferred TAC recommendation. The Technical Committee and the ERP Working Group supply projections and risk information; the commissioners decide policy.

The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition has undertaken a detailed analysis and thorough review of all the meeting materials and reports, and of the entire recording of the meeting available online. It shows there is nowhere the Technical Committee (TC) or the ERP Working Group “recommends” a 54% cut, or any specific TAC. Staff consistently present options and risks at the Board’s request, not a recommendation.

The only time a 54% cut is presented as a recommendation is when Commissioner Proxy Matt Gates (CT) incorrectly described the option provided at the Board’s request as a recommendation. His motion reads: “I would like to make the motion for the TAC recommended in the TC and working groups memo that achieves a 50% probability of achieving the ecological reference point F target… move to set the TAC… at 108,450 metric tons….”

What the record shows (brief)

No staff “recommendation” for 54%. Technical staff presented options and risk probabilities at the Board’s request; they did not tell the Board which TAC to choose. The sole place a “recommendation” is claimed is the Gates motion quoted above. The staff materials do not recommend that TAC; they simply show it as one scenario.
Why 2025 numbers differ from 2022. The 2025 update uses a lower natural-mortality (M) estimate, which re-scales the entire 1955–present series (average biomass ≈ 37% lower vs. 2022). That’s a model re-interpretation, not a stock crash, total biomass is slightly higher than in 2021.
Considering economics is required. Section 6(a) of ASMFC’s ISFMP Charter: “Social and economic impacts and benefits must be taken into account.” The Board did exactly that.
The chosen 20% TAC reduction is biologically conservative.Projections show 0% probability of exceeding the ERP F-threshold (no overfishing) in 2026–2028, and only 2–4% risk of dipping below the fecundity threshold, nearly indistinguishable from a ~54% cut on that metric.
Threshold vs. target, in plain terms. The threshold is the do-not-cross line that ensures enough menhaden for today’s predators. The targetassumes a future in which striped bass are rebuilt and fished at their own F-target. That’s not today’s world, striped bass are overfished and being rebuilt at lower F.
Cutting menhaden alone can’t rebuild stripers. As Dr. Katie Drew told the Board (Feb. 2020): “you have to adjust all of them at once… if you don’t adjust the striped bass fishing mortality nothing you do to menhaden will bring that population back… we need to adjust both of them together.”

Read the full analysis here

Examples of the inaccurate “recommendation” narrative (links)

The American Sportfishing Association (ASA), in an article by Rob Shane titled Mixed Results from 2025 ASMFC Annual Meeting, states that “recent peer-reviewed science recommended a 54% quota cut” for Atlantic menhaden. (https://asafishing.org/advocacy/the-sportfishing-advocate/mixed-results-from-2025-asmfc/)
The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) press release Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Annual Meeting Ends with Mixed Results for Recreational Anglers similarly says the Board implemented only a 20 percent reduction “despite peer-reviewed research recommending a 54% cut to the commercial quota.” (https://www.nmma.org/press/article/25298)
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has repeatedly asserted that “slashing the coastwide catch limit by more than half” or “more than 50 percent” is needed to follow the science in Menhaden Stock Assessment Indicates Catch Must Be Reduced to Benefit Striped Bass and again in Marine Fisheries Board Declines to Make Science-Based Reduction to Atlantic Menhaden Catch Limit. (https://www.trcp.org/2025/10/15/menhaden-stock-assessment-indicates-catch-must-be-reduced-to-benefit-striped-bass/; https://www.trcp.org/2025/10/28/marine-fisheries-board-declines-to-make-science-based-reduction-to-atlantic-menhaden-catch-limit/)
The American Saltwater Guides Association went further, urging “massive reductions” and telling readers that “the bottom line is we need a 55% reduction in the TAC for Atlantic menhaden” in Take The Cut: Massive Reductions for Menhaden Industry Necessary. (https://www.saltwaterguidesassociation.com/take-the-cut-massive-reductions-for-menhaden-industry-necessary/)
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, in a press release by Vanessa Remmers titled Menhaden Management Meeting Results in Lackluster Coastwide Catch Reductions, told supporters that “The ASMFC menhaden stock assessments resulted in forecasts indicating the need for a 54 percent cut to the menhaden harvest to meet the needs of predators like striped bass, osprey, and marine mammals.” (https://www.cbf.org/news/menhaden-management-meeting-results-in-lackluster-coastwide-catch-reductions/)
Jim McDuffie, President and CEO of Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, in a press statement said: “While today’s vote resulted in a 20% reduction, it was far short of the reduction recommended by the Commission’s own scientists.” (https://stateportpilot.com/sports/article_24fe9863-7157-46f7-b8e0-a7327a3b2c8d.html)
The International Game Fish Association inaccurately stated in a press release that “scientists said that a quota of 108,000 MT was necessary to have a 50% chance of success of rebuilding the striped bass fishery.” (https://igfa.org/2025/10/29/fisheries-managers-fail-to-protect-menhaden-and-striped-bass/)
Sport Fishing magazine amplified the same narrative, reporting that ASMFC “implemented a 20 percent cut to the Atlantic commercial menhaden harvest, when peer-reviewed science recommended a 54 percent quota cut, according to an ASA press release” in Nick Carter’s Anglers Frustrated with Menhaden Management. (https://www.sportfishingmag.com/news/anglers-frustrated-with-menhaden-management/)
A Washington Post guest essay, It’s the ‘most important fish in the sea.’ And it’s disappearing. by Mark Robichaux, framed the controversy around the idea that managers failed to adopt the deep cuts “scientists recommend” (Nov. 20, 2025). (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/20/menhaden-fishing-caps-atlantic-reduction/)

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.