Atlantic menhaden (brevoortia tyrannus) are a small pelagic fish that are prey for many marine predators, and they also support the largest commercial fishery on the U.S. East coast, at 145,000…

Atlantic menhaden (brevoortia tyrannus) are a small pelagic fish that are prey for many marine predators, and they also support the largest commercial fishery on the U.S. East coast, at 145,000 MT/YR worth over $40 million USD. In 2020, ecological reference points (erps) were adopted for managing the fishery with broad public support for the objective of sustaining both menhaden and their predators. Those erps were developed using an ecosystem model of the northwest atlantic continental shelf (nwacs), which included menhaden and five other managed species that are connected through food web interactions. The erps were based on the tradeoff relationship between menhaden harvest and striped bass biomass, marking the first formal interdependent multispecies reference points ever adopted in the U.S. However, continued investment in model development is required to ensure the ERP process remains viable and the models continue to evolve with management needs. This project will update the NWA