Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, include Anchovies, herring, shad, smelt, chub mackerel, and sardines. These are small schooling species that serve as prey for larger commercially and recreationally important fish. Many larger predator fish, marine mammals and sea birds are sharply focused on the numbers and whereabouts of forage fish shoals, and often migrate thousands of miles to connect with them. Forage fish themselves consume plankton, lichens and aquatic algae to produce food energy from the sun and are the raw fuel for marine food webs. Some swim in synchronized grids with their mouths open to efficiently filter plankton. As such, forage fish occupy indispensable positions in our ocean and lake food webs. Current overfishing has far-reaching consequences on these bait fish shoals and the webs they support.

Pending Legislation: H.R.3714 - Forage Fish Conservation Act of 2025
Sponsor: Rep. Debbie Dingell MI)
Status: House Committee on Natural Resources
Chair: Rep. Bruce Westerman (AR)

• I oppose reforming current forage fish policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Speaker Mike Johnson (LA).
• I support improving federal management of forage fish (small, schooling fish like herring, sardines) by requiring managers to consider their critical role as prey for bigger fish, marine mammals, and birds, ensuring science-based catch limits and ecosystem health, potentially halting new fisheries until assessments are done by:
  
  1.) Requiring the Secretary of Commerce to develop a formal, science-based definition for "forage fish" in federal waters.
  
  2.) Mandating federal fishery managers evaluate the potential impact on existing fisheries and the marine ecosystem before authorizing any new commercial forage fish fishery.
  
  3.) Requiring managers to account for the dietary needs of predator species (such as tuna, marine mammals, and seabirds) when setting annual catch limits for forage fish.
  
  4.) Including specific provisions for the conservation and management of river herring and shad in oceanic waters.
  
  And wish to donate resources to Rep. Bruce Westerman (AR) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.