The Make America Fish Again (MAFA) coalition, representing America’s leading sportfishing advocates and coastal business owners, today announced it has sent a formal letter to President Donald J. Trump urging him to issue an Executive Order banning industrial-scale forage fishing in U.S. waters.

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The letter calls on the President to protect the foundation of America’s ocean ecosystems — small “forage” species such as menhaden, that sustain larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. The coalition asserts that the industrial harvest of these species by foreign-backed corporations threatens the $100 billion recreational fishing economy, tens of thousands of coastal jobs, and the nation’s food security.

“These small bait fish are the linchpin of the marine food chain,” the letter states. “When they disappear, so do the striped bass, the bluefish, the ospreys, the dolphins, and so do the jobs and small businesses that depend on them.

“This isn’t just about conservation, it’s about economics. The industrial menhaden reduction fleet contributes a few hundred jobs in the region. But in doing so, they’re threatening thousands more in Virginia’s billion-dollar recreational fishing and coastal tourism economy. From bait shops and tackle stores to charter captains and boat dealers, the menhaden crisis affects the entire ecosystem of small businesses that fuel our coastal communities.”

The coalition emphasized that an Executive Order banning industrial forage fishing would deliver both economic and environmental benefits by ensuring that U.S. fisheries remain healthy, sustainable, and managed in the national interest.

“We need leadership. And right now, you are the only person with the power to break through the noise and do what’s right,” the letter implores. “You have the opportunity to take bold executive action by signing an order that would end harmful reduction fishing and leave these fish in the water to fulfill their ecological role rather than reduce them to animal feed.”

The full text of the coalition’s letter to President Trump is available here.

To learn more about the Make America Fish Again Coalition, or to sign the petition to call on President Trump to sign an executive order banning reduction fishing, please visit www.oceanherotrump.com.

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