The question has been simmering in the minds of watermen for years now. There were rumblings about baitfish disappearing after reduction fleet vessels passed through the Long Island Sound. There were stories about bunker becoming scarce in the Chesapeake. Here in New Jersey, we are witnessing the recently thriving osprey population leaving their chicks to starve in the nest. This is attributed by many to the sudden scarcity of their primary food source, adult menhaden.

With the second year of nearly total nest failures, the simmering question is becoming a nucleate boil.