It’s often called the most important fish in the sea – Atlantic menhaden, a silvery, oily forage fish known as bunker.

Menhaden are used as bait for commercial and recreational fisheries up and down the coast. They are also a vital food source for predatory fish such as striped bass, bluefish, tuna and sharks; marine mammals, including whales and dolphins; and seabirds like ospreys, which just experienced their worst nesting season on record in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Jersey Shore due…