Welcome to The Bait Line: The Fight to Save America's Fisheries Starts Here.
The Bait Line's first post traces how failed menhaden management is showing up as thinning bait supplies for lobstermen, a shrinking prey base for osprey and striped bass, and a fishery still run by one Canadian-owned company. FFC Executive Director Whit Fosburgh explains how we got here, and why the Forage Fish Campaign exists to change it.
IGFA President Jason Schratwieser on Why Menhaden Management Is Everyone's Fight
IGFA President Jason Schratwieser on why menhaden decline threatens gamefish populations, coastal economies, and the future of American fishing.
Saving the most important fish in the ocean
A year after President Trump called out foreign industrial fishing for depleting menhaden in the Chesapeake, coastal communities are still waiting on the federal action needed to save America's waters and the economies that depend on them.
This little fish anchors the East Coast food web. A fight over it is brewing.
A new Washington Post opinion piece lays out how the collapse of Atlantic menhaden is now showing up in starving osprey chicks in the Chesapeake, thinning lobster bait supplies in Maine, and fewer striped bass for anglers all along the coast.
Protecting Forage Fish Is a Conservation Home Run
Charter captain and former Major League pitcher Todd Redmond argues that while recreational fishermen face strict limits, foreign-controlled industrial fleets are harvesting menhaden in the Gulf virtually without regulation, and only federal action can stop the damage.
Alaska is sounding the alarm for fisheries in the United States
In the Anchorage Daily News, Forage Fish Campaign Executive Director Whit Fosburgh argues that industrial fleets depleting American resources are the common thread between Alaska's fisheries alarm and the crisis facing coastal communities on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
'Where's the Bait?' How Industrial Forage Fishing Is Threatening US Coastal Economies
Executive Director of the Forage Fish Campaign Whit Fosburgh sat down with Tiffany Meier on Tiffany Meier Tonight to discuss the state of America's fisheries and what is at stake for our coastal communities.
Forage Fish Campaign Launches "Where's the Bait?" Tour Across East Coast to Spotlight Coastal Businesses Impacted by Industrial Forage Fishing
The Forage Fish Campaign is launching its "Where's the Bait?" Tour on July 16, sending coalition leaders across five East Coast states to spotlight the economic toll industrial-scale forage fishing is taking on America's coastal businesses.
Fisheries managers must stop delaying and protect Maine’s river herring
Rusty Taylor, Executive Director of the Alewife Harvesters of Maine, writes in the Portland Press Herald that Maine's success in protecting river herring proves the solution is simple: keep industrial midwater trawlers away from migrating fish.
Ospreys in the Chesapeake Bay Are Starving to Death at Disastrous Rates. What Will It Take to Save Them?
David Gessner reports in Audubon Magazine that osprey chicks across the Chesapeake Bay are starving at disastrous rates, with scientists pointing to one primary cause: the disappearance of menhaden.
It’s the ‘most important fish in the sea.’ And it’s disappearing.
A Washington Post op-ed makes the case that menhaden are disappearing at an alarming rate and that without urgent federal action, striped bass could be next.
Join the Fight: The Forage Fish Campaign Is Hiring a Policy Director
The Forage Fish Campaign is hiring a Policy Director to lead federal and state advocacy, shape strategy, and build coalition around one of the next major conservation and economic battles taking shape in America's coastal communities.
Study links poor Chesapeake Bay osprey reproduction to food stress, but menhaden debate continues
A new study links poor osprey reproduction across the Chesapeake Bay to reduced menhaden availability, adding urgency to the debate over industrial-scale forage fishing.
New Study Links Starving Chesapeake Bay Osprey to Menhaden Woes
A new peer-reviewed study links unprecedented osprey starvation in the Chesapeake Bay to declining menhaden populations, adding urgency to calls for Virginia to pause industrial reduction fishing in the Bay.
National Fabrizio-Ward Poll Finds Strong Support for Ending Industrial-Scale Forage Fishing in U.S. Waters
The Forage Fish Campaign released national polling showing broad bipartisan support for ending industrial-scale reduction fishing.
New Poll: Voters Want President Trump to Outlaw Industrial Fishing Practices That Harm American Fishermen
New polling shows voters across party lines back federal action to protect American fishermen and marine ecosystems from foreign-controlled industrial fishing operations.
It’s Time For Washington To Put American Fisheries First
Industrial-scale fishing is devastating America's coastal economies and marine ecosystems. Forage Fish Campaign Executive Director Whit Fosburgh makes the case for why Washington must act.
Forage Fish Campaign on FOX 5 DC
Executive Director of the Forage Fish Campaign Whit Fosburgh sat down with Fox 5 DC's Tom Fitzgerald on On The Hill to discuss the state of America's fisheries and what is at stake for our coastal communities.
National Coalition Launches Forage Fish Campaign to Protect America’s Waters, Coastal Economies, and Marine Ecosystems
Coalition unites recreational and small-scale commercial fishermen in opposition to industrial-scale fishing for small baitfish in U.S. waters
Save The Soul of America’s Coastline
Louisiana charter captain Michael Frenette argues that industrial menhaden fishing by a foreign-backed company is devastating America's coastal communities and calls on President Trump to ban it.

