Free Republic

""We're restoring fished-down predator species, so the demand for prey is going up," said Ken Hinman, president of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation. "We're looking at a breakdown in the Chesapeake Bay food web. Rockfish, bluefish, sea trout, ospreys and loons all depend on menhaden, which are disappearing when we need them the most." . . . "Since menhaden are the prime forage for rockfish and other species, their abundance is vital to a healthy estuary. Goldsborough called it "perhaps the most important fish on our coast." Yet menhaden is the only species on which ASMFC [Atlantic States Marine...