"Watts broadened the center’s osprey study beyond Mobjack Bay in 2024, working with scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey to follow breeding in 12 locations around the Chesapeake. That fieldwork found similarly poor reproduction in 10 sites along the Bay’s mainstem, where menhaden typically can be found, while osprey pairs produced more young in two freshwater areas where they feed on different fish.

LaTour said he doesn’t doubt that there are fewer menhaden in the Bay for ospreys to feed on, but he said the evidence is lacking to pin that on the Omega Protein fishing fleet. He suspects instead that there’s been a change in the distribution of menhaden in the Chesapeake. He noted there have been likely climate-induced shifts seen in the distribution of other fish populations along the Atlantic coast..."