Tag Archives: Ben Wurst

Yes, there are no Menhaden, there are NO Menhaden today…

3 June 2026

I didn’t expect to be posting another blog today, but the information in a FB post by Ben Wurst, Conservation Officer in New Jersey, prompted me to reach out to all of you.

We have been talking about protecting Eagles and Golden Eagles but we MUST protect all wildlife and that includes my beloved ospreys who two years ago found their chicks dying on the nest, and who last year laid eggs and abandoned them. I get letters from individuals in Virginia of nests failed early this season and now we watch Little Dewey.

Little Dewey cannot be allowed to starve to death while people sitting at cafe tables below his nest eat fish. That is simply scandalous. I would go to jail for feeding him – and gladly use that as a test case to get this bloody mess of intervention sorted. I do not live in the US, so some will say that is an empty action, but yes, I would do it. My early life was full of social activism and, in particular, fighting for civil and women’s rights and against the Vietnam War in Oklahoma.

This is what Ben Wurst posted today on the Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal today:

Ben Wurst 

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Yesterday I flew the entire 130 mile coast of New Jersey. Our goal was to locate schools of menhaden. This was the first time that I’ve ever flown in a Cessna and along the coast. After what we saw with osprey reproduction last year, I knew it was crucial to get independent data on menhaden presence or absence off New Jersey.

The conditions were optimal for flight. Light north winds. Excellent visibility. Great light. We flew from Barnegat Inlet south to Cape May and then north to Sandy Hook.

Throughout the entire flight, which was around 1500 and 2500’ AGL and 1-3 miles offshore, we did not see any schools of menhaden.

The pilot I flew with grew up on the bay and is a life long fisherman, who knows what to look for when reading the water. The whole coast was so calm and quiet that it was eerie. All we saw (marine species wise) were several small pods of dolphins. There wasn’t even much fishing activity.

Right now in NJ many osprey nests are empty, as females did not lay eggs this spring. Those nests with eggs are still incubating, which is odd for this time of year. Most nests should have hatchlings. Those that do have young are entering a crucial period in their development, where plentiful food is required. At one nest that I surveyed today, I noticed how skinny the incubating female looked. All of these behaviors have been observed on the Chesapeake in the past few years. Where are all the fish?

I hope to fly again in another week or two to see if any fish show up but things are looking disastrous.

Do whatever you can to help for the future and for now, if you can.

Thank you for being with us and please wish for fish.

Thank you to the owners of the Dewey Beach streaming cam for allowing us to watch this wonderful family and feisty Little Dewey.

Loss of fish will impact our sea birds and ospreys…

25 February 2026

Good Morning,

There has been a lot of discussion about the industrial fishing of the Chesapeake Bay and the lack of Menhaden for the Ospreys.

The Bay is one of the main areas for ospreys in the United States. There were hundreds of thousands of them. That is a lot of fish required for adults and chicks and the fish are just not there. Can the osprey adapt to eating a different kind of fish? They have certainly adapted over 61 million years, but the problem is – what other fish? Talk to Brian Collins or some of the other fishers from the region and we immediately understand that Striped Bass numbers are down as well along with all other species. Has the industrial overfishing impacted the other regions? Some debate that.

Ben Wurst’s recent newsletter from Conserve Wildlife of NJ indicates the lack of prey is the root cause of nest failure in the area of the Bay. Thanks, Heidi, for this great article.

A Tale of Two Seasons: Ospreys and Menhaden on the Mullica River

Heidi, Viki, and I monitored the changing behaviour of osprey in the area. We noted that Duke and Daisy chose not to breed. Viki noted that in 2024, all chicks starved in the fifteen nests they had monitored for twenty years in Maryland. Last year, those same adult osprey laid their eggs and abandoned them before hatching due – I strongly believe – to a lack of food. No sense hatching them if they are going to starve to death. Please don’t tell me our raptors are not intelligent. They are. I continue and will always add what Laura Culley taught me – they are smarter than humans!

The problem is we are killing them and their habitat.

One thing that we cannot ignore is the rising temperature of the oceans, lakes, and streams. This is killing off fish and that will have an immediate impact on seabirds and other raptors that rely on fish as their sole source of food.

Here is an article today in The Guardian:

hronic ocean heating fuels ‘staggering’ loss of marine life, study findshttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/25/chronic-ocean-heating-fuels-staggering-loss-marine-life-study?CMP=share_btn_url

So as we move into osprey season, I want us to educate ourselves on some of the major challenges the populations face in different regions of the world.

Thank you for being with me this morning. Take care. Regular blog back the end of the week!

Thank you to Heidi for sending me the article by Ben Wurst. Thank you Ben for writing it and to The Guardian, we are always grateful for your coverage of the environment.