Commission: Virginia let company defy fishing limits in bay

FILE - In this May 23, 2006 file photo menhaden fishing boats line up against the pier at the Omega Protein Corporation processing plant in Reedville, Va. Fishing regulators say Virginia allowed a Canadian-owned company that makes fish-oil supplements to go well beyond catch limits set for the Chesapeake Bay. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019, to find Virginia out of compliance with its regulations for menhaden. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

NORFOLK, Va. — Fishing regulators say the state of Virginia allowed a Canadian-owned company that makes fish-oil supplements to defy catch limits for a tiny and oily fish in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Thursday to find Virginia out of compliance with its regulations for a fish called menhaden.

The interstate commission said Virginia let Omega Protein exceed a harvest cap that’s meant to protect menhaden. The fish serves as an important link the bay’s food chain, which includes striped bass, dolphins and whales.

The commission will ask the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to intervene. But that’s something that hasn’t always happened under the Trump Administration.

Omega Protein and Virginia lawmakers who support the company have said the ever-stricter harvest caps are based on politics, not science.

Ben Finley, The Associated Press