Save The Soul of America’s Coastline

(Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

The American way of life is under attack. Not from global warming. Not from Washington red tape. But from a Canadian-aligned company sucking up America’s natural resources just off our coastlines.

These aren’t family boats with local crews. They are massive, foreign-backed industrial ships, which use spotter planes, chase boats, and large nets, to sweep up entire schools of fish from the sea in a single set.

Their target is menhaden, a small, oily forage fish that forms the foundation of the entire ocean ecosystem. These fish feed striped bass, tuna, whales, dolphins, ospreys, and so much more. When the menhaden disappear, everything else disappears too. (RELATED: Is Our Hockey-Loving, Liberal Neighbor Morphing Into A Chinese Communist Proxy?)

This foreign-affiliated company doesn’t care about our traditions.  They don’t care about our jobs.  They don’t care about our freedom. They’re scooping up American fish, processing them into pig feed and oil, and selling them overseas—while our coastal communities, the very soul of our nation, struggle to survive.

The damage in the Gulf of America is staggering. Billions of menhaden are caught every year for export to China, Canada, and Europe. And a recent study revealed millions of non-target fish were also killed, including croaker, sand seatrout and breeding-size redfish. Redfish are the most important recreational fishery in the Gulf, so as a fishing guide, this is personal. We should not allow a foreign entity to undermine the very fish populations that provide for thousands of families like mine.

The impacts of these wasteful fishing operations are also being felt in the Atlantic. Striped bass populations are overfished and scientists say that industrial menhaden fishing is a major contributor. One study found that industrial menhaden fishing causes a nearly 30% decline in striped bass numbers.

Studies from 2024 confirmed years of poor reproduction in the Chesapeake Bay — the most important nursery for striped bass and the epicenter of the Atlantic reduction fishery.

The story of the striped bass is the story of every bait shop, charter captain, and marina owner from Cape May to Cape Cod: fewer fish in the water means fewer trips booked, fewer tourists, and fewer paychecks. Anglers have been forced to reduce catch substantially — to the lowest levels in 30 years. What was once a reliable way of life is now a gamble stacked against working families. (RELATED: Florida Keys Crew Scores Massive 480-Pound Swordfish After Intense 5-Hour Battle)

This isn’t an environmental problem in the abstract. It’s an economic and cultural crisis. When the forage fish vanish, so do the predators. When the predators vanish, charter captains cancel trips, bait shops shutter, marinas go quiet, and families who have fished these waters for generations lose not just income but identity. Entire communities, from the bayous of Louisiana to the docks of Montauk, are watching their livelihoods erode.

Although every other East Coast state has banned industrial factory fishing, the Virginia legislature cannot even pass funding for a multi-year scientific review of the fishery’s impacts in the Chesapeake Bay because an army of corporate lobbyists have blocked the effort.

That’s why we need President Donald J. Trump to step in right now. He has already proven he will stand up for forgotten communities by stopping the Pebble Mine in Alaska, delivering historic funding for the Everglades, and signing the Great American Outdoors Act. With one signature, he can ban industrial reduction fishing in U.S. waters, protect our coastal heritage, and make clear that America’s natural resources belong to Americans, not foreign corporations. (RELATED: ‘Deadliest Catch’ Star Todd Meadows Dies Tragically At Sea)

Fishing built this nation from the water’s edge inward. From shrimp boats in the Gulf of America to lobster traps in New England, it is more than an industry, it is a heritage. It is independence. It is America itself. And no foreign corporation, no K Street lobbyist, no Washington D.C. bureaucracy has the right to take that away.

This isn’t just policy. It’s patriotism. This isn’t about saving fish, it’s about saving the very soul of America’s coastline. And if we fail, we will not just lose a species or a season, we will lose a piece of who we are as a nation.

Captain Michael Frenette studied marketing at Southeastern Louisiana University, and he has nearly 15 years of professional redfishing experience. He is a Charter Captain at the Redfish Lodge of Louisiana. 

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.

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