It is estimated that more than one-third of the nation's blue crab catch comes from the Chesapeake Bay. Blue crabs have the highest value of any Chesapeake commercial fishery, bringing in more than $50 million per year.
For more than a century, oysters made up one of the Bay's most valuable commercial fisheries. Over-harvesting, disease, sedimentation and poor water quality have since caused a severe decline in their numbers.
American shad once supported the most valuable finfish fishery in the Chesapeake. But stocks in the Bay and along the Atlantic coast are now low compared to historic levels and no longer support commercial fisheries.
Atlantic menhaden are typically caught using purse seines, then processed into oil or fish meal (called reduction). The Bay's major fishery and reduction industry for menhaden is located in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake.
Striped bass—also known as rockfish or stripers—is the Chesapeake's signature fish, supporting one of the Bay's most popular commercial and recreational fisheries.