Trump Admin Must Save The Soul Of America’s Coastline

(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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

These aren’t family boats with local crews. They are massive, foreign-backed industrial vessels, led by Omega Protein, a company now owned by Canadian conglomerate Cooke Inc. Since Cooke’s takeover in 2017, Omega has dominated the menhaden industry, controlling nearly all of the reduction harvest along the Atlantic coast. Its ships can sweep entire schools of fish from the sea in a single set, hauling in millions of pounds at once.

They are vacuuming up menhaden and herring — the small, oily forage fish that form the backbone 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: Angler Completely Obliterates Alabama State Record With 550-Pound Swordfish)

And the damage is staggering. A 2024 Louisiana bycatch study released in July 2025 revealed that menhaden boats killed an estimated 22,000 breeding-size redfish, 81 million croaker, 25 million sand seatrout, and 145 million additional fish of various species in a single season. By weight, that translated to more than 37 million pounds of wasted bycatch in Louisiana waters alone.

The collapse is being felt on the Atlantic Coast as well. The striped bass recreational fishery — once the pride of the East Coast — generates over $7.7 billion in GDP and supports more than 104,000 jobs. Yet the numbers tell a grim story. The 2024 stock assessment confirms that poor reproduction in the Chesapeake Bay, the most important nursery for striped bass, has pushed the fishery into crisis.

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. What was once a reliable way of life is now a gamble stacked against working families. (RELATED: Divers Discover Wreck Of Luxury Steamer From 150 Years Ago In Lake)

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.

Even state governments trying to study the problem have been stymied—Virginia’s legislature has attempted to fund a multi-year scientific review of menhaden impacts in the Chesapeake Bay, only to see the effort blocked after lobbying by Omega Protein. The same company has also faced a federal lawsuit alleging it concealed foreign ownership through a U.S. shell company, a scheme that, if proven, could cost Omega Protein over $2 billion in penalties. In other words, these industrial fleets are not just straining our waters—they may be skirting the very laws meant to protect them. (RELATED: China Kills A River In Foreign Country With Acidic Waste Spill, Leaving Millions In Emergency)

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 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.

Fishing built this nation from the water’s edge inward. From shrimp boats in the Gulf of Mexico 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 fleet, no K Street lobbyist, no bureaucrat in Washington 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 “Red” Frenette has almost 15 years of professional redfishing experience. He studied marketing at Southeastern Louisiana University, and 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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