Gloucester Point, Va. (AP) -Shot in the old wooden duck blind in the middle of the York River, Bryan Watts looks at the circle of rods and pine cones on the harsh, guan-cut platform. This is an unsuccessful Osprey socket taken over by diving terns.
“Birds never lying here this year,” said Watts, at the mouth of the Virginia Cesapik Bay. “And this is the model we have seen for the past couple of years.”
Watts has more intimate relationships with Ospreys than most people have a bird – it rose to their nests to release them from plastic bags fed by hand and observed eggs in telescopic mirrors.
Fish eating the Raptor, known for gymnastics diving and whistle -like chirping, is a success story for the preservation of America. After the pesticides and other dangers almost eliminated species from the big country, the Vanagh -like bird retreated after the 1972 DDT has banned and now thousands of US
But Watts recorded a worrying trend. Birds that breed in many parts of the US are unable to successfully plan enough chickens around their main Cesapik Bay population center. A longtime biologist blames Menhaden, a small educational fish, a critical Osprey diet. Without Menhaden to eat, chickens starve and die in their nests, Watts said.
Osprey is an environmental indicator
Watts’ requirement and environmental groups were contrary to the fishing industry, trade unions and sometimes government regulatory authorities. Menhaden is a valuable fish oil, fish flour and agricultural food as well as bait.
US fishermen every year since 1951. Caught at least £ 1.1 billion Menhaden. Industrial members indicate their sustainability and said the Osprey decrease may have nothing to do with fishing.
But without aid, the Osprey population may have fallen to a level from the dark days of DDT, said Watts, William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, Williamsburg, Virginia College.
“Osprey shouts quite loudly that, hey, is not enough for Menhaden to successfully restore it,” Watts said. “And we should listen to them to be more informed about the side of the fisheries, and we should take precautions on the side of the fishing of the fisheries. But that had not won the day at the moment.”
Contraction associated with Menhaden in research
Watts, who has been studying Osprey in Chesapeak for decades, supports his claims on population decline, publishing scientific magazines. He said it causes simple statistics to keep the population, Osprey couples need 1.15 chickens per year.
In the 1980s, Osprey reproduced at this level, but today, in some places around the main Chesapik trunk, this is less than half of what, said Watts. He said that they do not even open at a tenth of this level in particularly worried places. Watts said the decreasing Menhaden combines the nest failure area.
Also known as “Pogies” or bunkers, fat Menhaden is particularly important for young birds because they are more nutritious than other fish at sea. Osprey’s “reproductive performance is inextricably linked to the availability and abundance of Menhaden,” Watts wrote in 2023. In the study published in the Fronters in Marine Science.
Protected by professionals, he was worried for many years, saying that too much Menhaden was removed to maintain their important role in the ocean food chain. Historian Bruce Franklin went so far that he called his 2007. The book about Menhaden is the most important fish in the sea.
The fishing industry pushes back
Menhaden helps keep one of the world’s largest fisheries worth more than $ 200 million. They also love Sportfishermen.
The modern industry is dominated by Omega Protein, Reedville, Virginia, a subsidiary of Canada Aquaculture Giant Cooke. The company immersed itself in the idea that fishing was the cause of the Osprey downturn, although it acknowledged that in some parts of the bay there were less Menhaden.
Federal data indicate that Osprey breeding is decreasing in many parts of the country, including where Menhaden is not removed, said Omega spokesman Ben Landry. Climate change, pollution and development can play an important role, Landry said with the company.
Accusing fishing “just repetition of environmental special interest groups that affect the process,” said Landry.
May be new rules
The fishing of Menhaden is managed by the Atlantic State Maritime Fisheries Commission, the cross -border institution, which develops rules and establishes fishing quotas. She has caused questions about Ospreys and has created a working group to resolve precautions in Chesapik Bay.
April This group has offered several possible management methods, including seasonal closure, restrictions on quotas or days at sea and restrictions on fishing products. The process of creating new rules could begin this summer, said James Boyle, with a commission with a fisheries management plan coordinator.
The Osprey population has actually fallen in some areas since 2012, but it is important to remember that the bird population is much larger than it was before the DDT was banned, Boyle said.
“The population of the DDT era’s Osprey is greatly increased,” Boyle said, quoting federal data showing a six-fold increase in the Osprey population along the Atlantic coast of the 1960s.
Environmentalists say the bird’s downturn may worsen
For many environmental groups, any decline is too large. This irritates some work leaders who are worried about losing more jobs as the fishermen’s industry is decreasing.
Kenny Pinkard, a pensioner of the UFCW Local 400 Executive Board and a longtime Virginia fisherman, said he believed the industry was sinking.
“There are some people who just don’t want to see us in business,” he said.
However, Chris Moore, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said he was at risk of losing an iconic bird in the country if no action was taken. He said Wattsso studies show that Osprey would collapse without access to Menhaden.
“Osprey was a success story,” Moore said. “We are in a situation where they do not change our numbers. We will actually be in a situation where we will decrease dramatically.”
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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.
___ This story was based on funding from the Walton Family Foundation. AP is only responsible for all content.