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    A small fish is at the center of a big fight in the Chesapeake Bay

    Recreational fishermen and conservation groups worry overfishing for menhaden threatens the Chesapeake Bay. Industry says current data doesn't support shutting down the more than century-old fishery.
    by Katherine Hafner Feb 14, 2024 6 minutes
    Chris Dollar steers his boat on the Ware River in Gloucester, Virginia in September. A charter fishing captain and conservation advocate, Dollar said he sees fewer fish in the bay and its tributaries than he used to. Schools of menhaden that used to be "the size of a football field" have shrunk to "maybe a tennis court," he said.

    On a breezy afternoon, Chris Dollar launched his boat into the Ware River in Gloucester, Virginia. Pulling away from the dock, he pointed to small ripples in the water: jumping menhaden, a small, silver fish that has found itself at the center of one of the most heated and longest-running debates in the state.

    Dollar has spent his life on the Chesapeake Bay. He owns a charter fishing business, equipping sport fishers and taking them out on the water to catch local favorites like striped bass and rockfish.

    Menhaden, he said, are "not a glamorous fish."

    "I wouldn't call them ugly," Dollar said with a laugh. "But I wouldn't call them poster children for the Chesapeake writ large."

    But in recent years, menhaden have become a major symbol of the bay. The little forage fish is a crucial part of the local ecosystem, a nutrient-dense food source for species from and eagles to the striped bass and

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