OSPREYCAM
ADVOCACY
Help us Match our donation of $1,000 to the Center for Conservation Biology to Support Chesapeake Bay Osprey Study
The Virginia Osprey Foundation is matching up to $1000 for the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary, for the study of Population-Level Implications of the Ongoing Food Stress in Chesapeake Ospreys. This study is important to the protection of the Osprey and its habitat including food availability, specifically menhaden. We urge you to donate today! No amount is too small. Our Osprey chicks died last year at a rate that impacts the populations sustainability in the Chesapeake Bay. We thank you in advance!
PRESS RELEASE
Virginia – The Virginia Osprey Foundation is proud to announce a contribution of $1,000.00 to the Center for Conservation Biology in support of their study, "Understanding the Population-Level Implications of Ongoing Food Stress in Chesapeake Bay Osprey."
This donation represents the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to osprey conservation and supports crucial research on the challenges facing these iconic birds in their Chesapeake Bay habitats.
The Chesapeake Bay is home to one of the most significant populations of ospreys in the world, yet recent findings highlight an alarming trend: osprey populations are experiencing heightened food stress, impacting growth and survival rates. The Center for Conservation Biology’s study aims to investigate the root causes and potential long-term effects of this food scarcity.
Findings from this research will help shape conservation strategies that support healthy osprey populations and ensure the resilience of this keystone species in Chesapeake Bay.
Take Action!
As you all know, we supplied the Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) with three of our deceased osprey chicks.
They were sent off for necropsies and today we received preliminary results and we wanted to share them with you. This does not answer the question as to why they are starving, it just confirms that indeed that is what happened.
The big question is, why? What can we do to help? Please go to the advocacy tab to find your legislators. Write to them and express your concerns. If you need help in doing that, send us an email at ospreycbva@gmail.com.
#saveourospreys
Ground Zero for Ospreys
Around 20,000 ospreys are attracted to Chesapeake Bay annually, making it the world's most important nesting grounds for the species. But researchers believe that the decline of one little fish might play a significant part in the decreasing breeding success in recent years.
Read Article Here
Osprey Need Your Help!
The Chesapeake Bay hosts the largest population of Osprey of any place else in the world. There are 10,000 to 12,000 breeding pairs. The resurgence of Osprey over the past several decades from near extinction caused by DDT is one of America’s great wildlife success stories. Today, researchers have found evidence that Ospreys in the lower Chesapeake Bay are in trouble again, this time as a result of inadequate supply of menhaden, a crucial forage fish.
Osprey almost exclusively eat fish, and in the lower Chesapeake Bay, their health and survival is inextricably linked to menhaden, a rich source of energy to their oil content.
Menhaden are a schooling, oily fish that are commercially harvested by purse seines (large wall of netting) in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. Virginia is the only remaining state to allow industrial scale menhaden reduction Fisheries.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VRMC) sets the quotas and rules for the Chesapeake Bay’s commercial harvest of menhaden. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and its technical advisors recommend and allocate commercial harvest quotas for each state, including Virginia, along the Atlantic Coast and in the Chesapeake Bay.
This year, 83 nests in Mobjack Bay (lower Chesapeake) were monitored by researchers from the Center for Conservation Biology. The Osprey population in that part of the Chesapeake Bay has been on the decline for years. This year, out of 83 nests, only 3 chicks survived. That reproductive rate is unable to sustain a stable osprey population. Menhaden populations should be maintained at levels that will sustain Osprey populations in which they are able to produce approximately one chick per nest to offset mortality. It is suggested that the current menhaden availability in that area is too low to support that productivity rate. There needs to be balance. Science suggests that the overharvesting of menhaden over years is now affecting the productivity of Osprey.
This is a highly political issue, and to put it into the words of Dr. Bryan Watts, Director of the Center for Conservation Biology, “Osprey are not political, they are just trying to do their Osprey thing.” So what can we do? We can let our voices be heard, as we are the voices for these magnificent raptors. Together WE CAN!
I am providing some contact information and encourage each of you to reach out and voice your concerns. If you have questions you can email the Virginia Osprey Foundation at virginiaospreyfoundation@gmail.com
Write and Call Menhaden Management Policy Makers:
Jamie Green
(757) 247-2265
Commissioner, Virginia Marine Resources Commission
Atlantic Menhaden Management Board Member with ASMFC.
Mel Bell
BellM@dnr.sc.gov / https://safmc.net/people/mel-bell
(843) 953-9007
Chairman of the Board, Atlantic Menhaden Management Board
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
Travis A. Voyles natural.resources@governor.virginia.gov
(804) 786-0044
Virginia Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources
Advisor to the Governor of Virginia
Caren Merrick glenn.youngkin@governor.virginia.gov
(804) 786-2211
Secretary of Commerce and Trade
Advisor to the Governor of Virginia
Glenn Youngkin glenn.youngkin@governor.virginia.gov
(804) 786-7831
Governor of Virginia
Mark R. Warner
https://www.warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/ContactPage
US Senator, Virginia
Tim Kaine
https://www.kaine.senate.gov/contact/share-your-opinion
US Senator, Virginia
Find Your Delegates and Senators write and call
Virginia House of Delegates Member Listings (virginiageneralassembly.gov)
Photo credit to Dr. Bryan Watts
Anglers, environmentalists push for partial moratorium on Chesapeake menhaden catch
Sportfishing groups and environmentalists are calling for a partial moratorium on Virginia’s menhaden reduction fishery, citing troubling declines of certain bird and fish species that feed on them.
A petition, dated Dec. 12 and signed by 18 individuals and organizations, presses the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) to ban related menhaden harvests in the state under most conditions until regulators enact a scientifically based catch limit within the Chesapeake Bay. Read entire article, click here.