US EditionOsprey came back from the brink once. Now chicks are dying in nests, and some blame overfishing
CHESAPEAKE BAY, UNITED STATES, JUL 12 – Osprey chick survival in Chesapeake Bay has dropped to less than half 1980s levels due to menhaden shortages linked to overfishing, biologist Watts said.
- Osprey failed to lay eggs in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay this year, continuing a pattern seen over the last few years near the bay's mouth.
- This decline follows the species' past recovery after DDT was banned in 1972, but recent years have seen fewer chicks fledged around key Chesapeake areas.
- Veteran biologist Watts attributes the decrease in osprey reproduction to the reduced numbers of menhaden, a key forage fish essential to osprey nutrition and the broader marine ecosystem.
- Watts's 2023 study states osprey pairs need 1.15 chicks annually to maintain populations, but current rates are less than half that in some Chesapeake areas, matching menhaden declines.
- Without intervention, experts warn osprey populations could fall to levels not seen since DDT’s era while a $200 million menhaden fishery operates amid regulatory debates and industry pushback.
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68 Articles
The Virginian Pilot
Daily PressColumn: Halt menhaden harvest until studies determine its effects
With summer in full swing, Chesapeake Bay fishermen, birders and environmentalists are once again faced with the harsh reality that menhaden, the most important fish in the sea, are scarce. Even Omega Protein, the Canadian-owned menhaden reduction fishery (i.e. reduces the fish to animal feed), and its partner Ocean Harvesters, with its spotter planes and huge purse seine nets, is having trouble finding them. Research on osprey reproduction in t…
Associated Press News
Osprey came back from the brink once. Now chicks are dying in nests, and some blame overfishing
The osprey is in decline in one of its key territories and some scientists blame overfishing of menhaden, an important food for the birds.
Mesmerizing Footage of Osprey Catching a Fish
Every once in a while, someone’s video of an animal in the wild stops me in my tracks. Mark Smith recently posted footage of an osprey hunting a fish, and it’s really beautiful. The bird starts with an expert plunge into the water. After surfacing, it shakes its head like a wet dog and pauses before mustering its energy and taking flight once again. Smith is a wildlife photographer who specializes in capturing these incredible moments with birds…
For the photo of this Saturday 12 July 2025, let's look at one of the most extraordinary aircraft in the American arsenal, but also the most fragile: the Bell-Boeing MV-22B Osprey. Immediately recognizable to its olive green livery and not to the usual low visibility grey this copy belongs to the HMX-1 squadron dedicated to presidential operations. [...] This content A MV-22B Osprey not (exactly) like the others. was first published on aircraftg…
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