Baby ospreys are starving and dying. This is happening along the Atlantic coastline from Virginia to points north and it’s been happening for the past few years. It’s dire.
In Maryland, it’s beyond depressing. As a bird of prey rescuer, it’s been among the most heartbreaking sights I’ve witnessed as a rescuer. By the time we get to these starving ospreys, it’s often too late to undo the damage. Humane euthanasia is the only help that can be offered.
We’ve gone from summers where we see so many ospreys to now where we some come in around St. Patrick’s Day and then gone. If they nest, most of the nests are abandoned, sometimes with babies or eggs in them.
It is a collapse of the osprey population.
We know what’s doing this. There have been countless studies. Salinity levels might play a role, but there’s a shortage of food – specifically menhaden.
Menhaden have been called the most important fish because they’re the bottom of the food chain. They feed so many other critters. Without them, we’re seeing this collapse of the osprey population. What population crash will come next is anyone’s guess, but it will happen.
It’s not a coincidence that the menhaden commercial/reduction fishing fleet is depleting waters of menhaden in THE EXACT SAME AREAS that we’re seeing osprey population collapse.
Oceans Harvesters, which is connected with a company known as Omega, send their spotter planes up to find the schools of menhaden and this is followed by their fleet of ships which suck up all of those fish. Then it’s lather, rinse repeat and no more menhaden.
Not to be confused with destruction fishing, it’s called reduction fishing. Or maybe it should be confused as destruction fishing.
If you chose to read the whole, recent study below, it’s well worth your time, but if not, this is perhaps the most import part –
“Ospreys are well-known sentinels for aquatic ecosystems both as indicators of environmental contaminants and as metrics for fish stocks. The Chesapeake Bay supports a large osprey population that has been responsive to previous changes in ecosystem conditions (Watts and Paxton, 2007; Lazarus et al., 2015a, Lazarus et al., 2016).
During the 2024 breeding season, osprey productivity within high salinity reaches was well below the level required for population maintenance. Although several factors are operating within this ecosystem that may affect productivity, we suggest that Atlantic
menhaden availability is the primary driver of low reproduction. This conclusion is consistent with both a 40-year retrospective (Watts et al., 2024) and response to an experimental manipulation of menhaden provisioning (Academia and Watts, 2023). As suggested by Poole (1982) food stress and associated reproductive failure in ospreys are reversible if fish stocks are managed to fulfill their role within the ecosystem.”
“…food stress and associated reproductive failure in ospreys are reversible if fish stocks are managed to fulfill their role within the ecosystem.”
It is interesting that despite the osprey nest failures are happening in the exact same spots that Ocean Harvesters operate, they keep wanting to blame other factors – it’s almost like Ocean Harvesters doesn’t know that what they did last year or in the years before might actually have an impact on this year and years going forward.
Suggesting that because they don’t operate in the Choptank or the Patuxent so they have nothing to do with the collapse and might lead some to believe this Ocean Harvesters has never been informed that fish can, in fact, swim.
Here’s a video of fish, actually menhaden, swimming.
There’s something else Ocean Harvesters, a fish reduction corporation, seems to not fully understand. Fish larvae can actually drift hundreds of miles.
Here’s a video that shows how that works, albeit with a different species.
Whatever excuses Ocean Harvesters/Omega want to dispute, ospreys depend on menhaden, menhaden are disappearing, ospreys are disappearing and oh, Ocean Harvesters depletes our waters of menhaden. And this is all a weird coincidence?
Back to the study which suggests fish stocks need to be managed in order to reverse this trend of osprey population collapse. How do we that?
We start lobbying as hard or harder as this corporate/industrial menhaden industry does.
We start demanding answers from our politicians, asking them what they’re doing about it. Their silence has been deafening.
When they say and they’re waiting for another study, a two year study, let them know ospreys don’t have the luxury of that time and the evidence is already in full sight – an osprey population collapse. Not to mention there are many other studies and surveys. You let them know ospreys can’t wait for another study.
A recent article in Bay Journal states, “Osprey breeding continues to falter around the Chesapeake Bay, a new survey has found, with the meager hatching and survival of chicks this year well below what is needed to maintain the population.”
An Audubon Magazine article has a bold headline, “Ospreys in the Chesapeake Bay Are Starving to Death at Disastrous Rates. What Will It Take to Save Them?”
That article states, “They found that Ospreys throughout the main stem of the Bay were producing less than half of the young required for the population to survive—a reproductive rate even lower than during the height of DDT.”
How can we help?
In answering Audubon Magazine’s question of what will it take to save the ospreys?
It will take humans – a lot of humans to help. This is how we do it. We have to demand much bigger limits on the reduction fishing industry that deplete our waters of menhaden through use of spotter planes and large vessels.
We do this two ways –
By October 9, share your comment with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission by emailing comments@asmfc.org (subject line: Atlantic Menhaden Draft Addendum II)
You can ask for what Virginia Saltwater Sport Fishing Association recommends (hint- on that underlined link you can copy and paste their recommendation and email it to comments@asmfc.org).
“3.1 Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap Amount
“Option C1e: To reduce the Chesapeake Bay CAP by at least 50 percent in 2027 and link any changes to the future Bay Cap to 13.6% of the Coastwide Catch Limit (TAC).
Option C2a: To set the maximum upper limit in any future change at the current level of 51,000mt.
3.2 Chesapeake Bay Cap Distribution
Option B2: To establish three even length quota periods for the Chesapeake Bay Cap, distributing the harvest at 25% in period 1, 25% in period 2, and 50% in period 3.
Option B: Provides any underage of Quota Periods 1 or 2 be rolled into Period 3 of the same fishing year. Any underage in Quota Period 3 would not be reallocated. Any overages would be deducted from the same quota period in the following year.
3.3 Chesapeake Bay Reduction Fishery Cap Revisit Provision
Option B: Revisit the Chesapeake Bay Cap every 3 year”
Contact your elected officials and demand they work to save our ospreys and limit the reduction fishing industry plundering our waters and depleting our natural resources.
Governor of Maryland
https://md.accessgov.com/…/Page/cs/contact-the-governor/1
governor@maryland.gov
Lt. Governor of Maryland –
lt.governor@maryland.gov
Secretary of Maryland Department of Natural Resources – josh.kurtz@maryland.gov
Director of Virginia Department of Natural Resources –
ryan.brown@dwr.virginia.gov
Governor of Virginia –
abigail.spanberger@governor.virginia.gov
Governor of New Jersey
https://www-njlib.nj.gov/GOV_TRANS…/BTCustomServlet
Assistant Commissioner New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife
david.golden@dep.nj.gov
Governor of Delaware – https://governor.delaware.gov/…/submit-a-comment-or…/
Secretary Delaware Department of Natural Resources
gregory.patterson@delaware.gov
Donna L. Cole is an award-winning investigative and multimedia reporter. She’s also a bird of prey rescuer and U.S. Navy veteran.
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Additional media –
New Jersey osprey nest observation – https://www.facebook.com/ben.wurst/posts/pfbid0HYAGGPbseiH8q1kYcNUnDW4yBSmmYRjSV1XnHwrv18u7tGTCHvu3iJoy92e3UmBSl
Connecticut Audubon Society – https://www.facebook.com/TheConnecticutAudubonSociety/posts/pfbid0Vf35zm5NdycrB6evhjYp3UiX5kZdVmYejxNxDDRrG9M1JDJuvY3qggLtHH3qK6Hgl