November 21, 2019 — With a tough letter accusing a Canadian-owned firm of stealing Virginia fish, Gov. Ralph Northam asked for a federal freeze on catching menhaden.
Northam said the freeze was needed because Reedville-based Omega Protein had exceeded a cap set on the menhaden catch in Chesapeake Bay earlier this year. Omega is owned by Cook Aquaculture Inc., of New Brunswick.
The governor’s request to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross came in the wake of a finding by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission that Virginia had violated the cap because of Omega’s operation.
The commission cut the Bay cap by 41% in 2017, in what it described as a precautionary measure, but without a finding of overfishing.
“Despite direct appeals by Virginia’s Marine Resources Commissioner and myself that Omega abide by the 51,000 metric ton limit, the company has continued over-harvesting menhaden from the Chesapeake Bay even after exceeding the cap,” Northam wrote in his request to Ross.