". . .Recreational anglers and environmental groups have long pushed Virginia to ban the industry from the Chesapeake Bay, arguing that menhaden are disappearing and impacting the rest of the food chain, such as ospreys and striped bass.

The industry, meanwhile, maintains there is no evidence that menhaden are in decline or that the population is being overfished.

The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition has pointed to statements by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, which is also analyzing ospreys around the bay.

'It's important to keep in mind that there are many factors and stressors that can affect osprey reproduction,' Barnett Rattner with the USGS’ Eastern Ecological Science Center told members of a coastwide menhaden regulatory board last year.

That includes limited food availability, disease, changing climate conditions and water quality, he said. . ."