Got this email today from an activist group called Menhaden Defenders to sign a petition protecting Menhaden from illicit netting. Again I'm sure they're referring to our nemesis from Cooke Inc. / Omega Protein who are raping the ocean and Chesapeake Bay and making this fishery there own personal lottery ticket. Petition looks legit, link to sign is as follows:
https://www.menhadendefenders.org/take-action#petition
The email I received said the following:
As we celebrate this season of gratitude, we want to express our heartfelt thanks for your support in protecting the NY/NJ Bight's vital ecosystem. Your signature on our petition demonstrates your commitment to preserving these waters for future generations.
The industrial menhaden fishing fleet has made over ten documented incursions into the NY/NJ Bight since May 2024, stripping our waters of menhaden, a critical food source for gamefish, seabirds, and marine mammals and depriving local fishermen who depend on menhaden for their livelihoods and culture.
These industrial-scale operations remove hundreds of millions of menhaden annually, threatening the delicate balance of our marine ecosystem.
This Giving Tuesday, you can double your impact. To get the attention of the U.S. Commerce Secretary and enact emergency regulations, we need more voices. Please help by:
Sharing the petition link with 3 friends or family members
Posting the petition on your social media
Making a tax-deductible donation to support our continued advocacy
Forwarding this email to others who care about our oceans
Your support this giving season helps ensure that future generations can be thankful for healthy, abundant coastal waters.
With gratitude this holiday season,
By signing and/or sharing the petition, you agree to Menhaden Defenders' terms and conditions and privacy policy. Your information will not be sold or shared with third parties.
You received this email because you opted in via our website or a previous campaign, or because you signed the aforementioned petition. To unsubscribe from these emails, click "unsubscribe from these emails" below.
Menhaden Defenders is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
We all talk about taking action, here's a chance for everyone to actually do just that by simply clicking on the link and signing the petition. Maybe it will help, maybe it won't but we all know the results of doing nothing. In answering the question at the bottom of the petition asking "Why do you care about Menhaden", it would be a great opportunity to mention the concerns we're been discussing on the site of late about the environmental impacts on the Chesapeake and consequential effects it's having on the striped bass and other fisheries and historically low recruitment levels. I'd add the fact that netting by one conglomerate is potentially costing us an entire fishery that's been around for centuries and costing coastal states hundreds of millions in economic benefits not to mention the benefits recreational anglers will lose if this stock doesn't recover and is lost to future generations. No one corporation should reserve the right and Virginia should not have the sole power of depriving all other states making up the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Maine Regions from enjoying and sharing in the benefits of a pubic resource while contributing to the destruction of one of the greatest ecosystems on the eastern seaboard.
