This little fish anchors the East Coast food web. A fight over it is brewing.

Atlantic menhaden—called bunker in New York and pogies in New England—are showing signs of system-wide trouble along the U.S. East Coast, and scientists warn the fallout is visible from the air, water, and docks. In the Chesapeake Bay, osprey chicks are dying at rates not seen since the DDT era, with researchers pointing to reduced prey. In Maine, lobstermen report tighter bait supplies, forcing them to use substitutes. Across the seaboard during striped bass season, charter captains say baitfish are scarcer. The fish’s role is central: striped bass, bluefish, bluefin tuna, humpback whales, and osprey depend on menhaden, which also underpin fisheries worth billions. A decadal management gridlock has left no single party truly “in the wheel.”