What’s the Big Deal with all the Bay’s Little Fish?

by Capt. John Page Williams

Atlantic menhaden are crucially important members of the vast food web in the Chesapeake Bay and its adjacent Atlantic coastal waters. But they aren't the only important fish in our Bay. We humans should eat a variety of foods to avoid becoming dependent on only one source and to fill a wide range of nutritional needs. So, for similar reasons, should the predator fish in the Chesapeake and the Atlantic also feed on a variety of forage fish and shellfish.

The numbers of available species vary from season to season and year to year, so food webs are healthiest and most stable with multiple members at each level.

There’s a good reason why ecologists sometimes describe food webs as food pyramids, with broad bases that become narrower going up. At the base of the Chesapeake’s pyramid are the trillions and trillions of plants that convert water, carbon dioxide, minerals and sunlight into the organic molecules that make life