The menhaden industry should be required to maintain a three-mile buffer zone from the coast to prevent conflict and ecological damage.

“I don't have a problem with the pokey boats working, just not killing everything in sight. And they and they probably still going to have some by catch being that far out. But at least it's not on the beach where they killing all the the speckled trout, the croers, all the smaller fish that can't go”

Industrial menhaden fishing causes significant environmental damage and illegal bycatch, necessitating more restrictive management.

“And so that's why those fish were protected. That's why recreational fishermen in this state for the most part said, "We don't want to kill those fish anymore because we know that the recovery time to bring that species that bring that population back up to a healthy level gets cut down significantl”