Virginia House bill (HB)-1048 to prohibit all purse seine fishing for menhaden in Chesapeake Bay was “tabled” on Feb. 9 by the general assembly’s Chesapeake Subcommittee of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
Generally, a table action in the committee is a method in Virginia’s assembly to kill a bill. So, the bill is essentially killed in this year’s General Assembly.
HB-1048, introduced and sponsored by Betty Carr, D-Richmond, directed the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) to prohibit all...purse seine menhaden by the reduction fishery until research specific to the bay demonstrated that the...fishery does not negatively impact other fisheries of menhaden-dependent species.”
The bill most likely would have eliminated the 2026 Virginia’s reduction menhaden fishing season. At least for the moment, the failure of HB-1048 brings a sigh of relief to the Reedville, Va., fishing community, where Omega Protein and its fishing partner Ocean Harvesters are home-based.
It is the only reduction menhaden fishery on the Atlantic East Coast. Omega Protein also has a reduction menhaden fishing operation on the Gulf of Mexico, and the firm’s parent company is Cooke Inc. of St. John, New Brunswick.
In the Feb. 5 issue of the weekly newspaper Rappahannock Record in Kilmarnock, Va. with a circulation in the Reedville area, guest opinion columnists Jim Hendrickson and David Cariens, in support of Omega, stated that if HB-1048 or HB-1049 were to pass the General Assembly, “the region’s largest private employer will close and move to its other facilities (to the Gulf of Mexico) in Louisiana.”
At a September 2025 press conference held by Omega Protein in Reedville, CEO of Ocean Harvester’s Monty Diehl reported that Omega Protein has 260 employees and creates an additional 390 indirect, support jobs and contract work. With $300 million in sales, and generates $100 million in economic activity. Omega Protein is the largest private employer and minority employer in the area with a $29 million payroll, says Diehl.
HB-1049
HB-1049 is still alive as the bill was amended by the House Agriculture Chesapeake and Natural Resources Subcommittee and moved forward to the House Appropriations Committee. The bill would require fisheries observers on boats and set different menhaden harvest levels at different points of the year.
A fiscal impact statement by the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget states that “it is anticipated that this bill will result in an ongoing general fund expenditure impact to VMRC.
“VMRC anticipates that it will need two additional Natural Resource Specialist II positions at an ongoing cost of $172,677 to address the increase in workload resulting from this bill.
“The commission also anticipates needing $50,636 for increased travel, contractual, supplies and materials, and equipment costs associated with this position. The agency states that these costs cannot be absorbed within existing resources.
SB-474
A bill by Senator David Marsden, D-Fairfax, to establish an Atlantic Menhaden Research Fund to be used by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in collaboration with VMRC to conduct a menhaden population study and report to the General Assembly failed in committee.
