The National Coalition for Marine Conservation (NCMC) is circulating a petition among anglers from Maine to North Carolina to prohibit industrial-scale fishing for Atlantic menhaden in Chesapeake Bay and help feed striped bass. The NCMC will submit the petition to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in December to head off a potential ecological disaster – the starving of the resurgent striped bass population that relies on menhaden for 70 to 80 percent of its food. Ninety percent of Atlantic striped bass are thought to spawn in the Chesapeake, while the Bay produces nearly half of each new generation of menhaden. To sign the petition online, download a printable version or donate to the cause, visit www.savethefish.org.
