HB 1048 & HB 1049 The Menhaden Needs to be protected NOW from overfishing. This species has already been overfished. The Menhaden are a Keystone species and vital to the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Limits on their harvest need to be put in place an enforced. The osprey population is suffering as are other species that depend on a healthy Menhaden population. HB 1091 Solar Energy is the most cost effective clean source of energy we can install right now. I totally understand residents not wanting industrial solar arrays installed too close to where they live, but with that said it is better to install these solar panels on agricultural land that is not being used rather than deforest more land in order to install these solar arrays. HB 129 Why should you be able to kill deer out of season on your property if they are damaging your fruit trees, crops, or personal property..? The land owner should be made to better secure their fruit trees, crops, and personal property rather than be allowed to kill deer because they are unwilling to invest the time to better secure their property from deer. HB1396 Hunting with dogs and allowing them to run over others personal property Needs to be prohibited! Why the leash laws do not pertain to hunters using dogs makes Zero sense. This has Nothing to do with tradition, and that is not an argument that should be used in support of hunting with dogs. If Sportsman hunting with dogs want to continue using dogs to hunt, they should be made to fence in the property before releasing their dogs. HB45 All fees associated with hunting, fishing, and trapping in the commonwealth should be collected. For what reason should people be allowed to do these activities for free, partially discounted, or get reimbursed. The wildlife they are hunting, fishing, and trapping belong to all the residents of Virginia. Therefore they should pay the associated fees when engaging in an activity that removes them from the wild spaces all residents have a right to enjoy.

Please stop hound hunters right to retrieve on private property. We have multiple where incidents every year where hunting dogs attack our pets on our private property causing harm, loss of life, and vet bills. Private property should remain private year around.

Listen, your most important job on this planet should be to protect and preserve whatever still wild places we have left. Our legacy is in our natural resources. The disappearance of our native menheden fish, will impact our wildlife across the board. Protection, and preservation is key! Likewise, my right to offer sanctuary to wildlife should not be trampled by another's sport of hunting with dogs allowing them to run wildlife and terrorize livestock. Hunting with dogs is a bad idea. It is cruel, it is certinally not a sport , nor does it take skill, and often dogs are poorly kept and abandoned when they are no longer useful. My property rights shall not be thought-less of. My sports, my dogs, none of it is carried on through their property. Wouldn't they be shocked. Again! Preservation is key! And this can Garner tax revenue! Just please use your brain, have some foresight and compassion! That is what your legacy can be.

Vote yes on this bill

I ask yall respectfully vote no on this bill dog hunting has been in Virginia since Virginia started as a state to loose our heritage would be would be crippling to our families. Please vote No on these bills.

Menhaden are a prime food source for many fish within the Chesapeake Bay including but not limited to striped bass, bluefish and other marine life. The commercial overfishing in Virginia and Maryland has had a noticeable impact on stripd bass and other fish populations. The catch numbers have reduced leading to stricter limits on these fish, without any restriction on the men Haden that these fish eat to survive. Maryland implemented stricter harvest/commercial fishing regulations. Virginia did not and those commercial vessels are indeed taking advantage of Virginia's lack of response to their over fishing. There needs to be more inspections of boats while fishing from USCG, Virginia Marine Police and Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources. The dangerous unregulated, unchecked and unimpeded commercial harvesting of these menhaden that are a food source for other fish including sport fish is an ecological disaster waiting to happen. When those menhaden are depleted the ecosystem will have longterm damage that will cost billions to restore and we will lose more species than the manhaden and stripers.

Please support HB 1048, to protect the menhaden fishery in the Chesapeake Bay. The bill would direct Virginia Marine Resources Commission to pause the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay until studies show that the menhaden reduction fishery is not harming other fisheries and menhaden-dependent species, such as the osprey. The osprey decline is alarming. Osprey depend on the nutrient rich menhaden fish, and we are aware that the osprey chicks are starving. Thank you kindly, Tyla Matteson, Chair, York River Group Sierra Club

Menhaden are a natural resource for all Virginians and users of the Chesapeake Bay. They are the primary keystone species that feeds almost all the other animals in the ecosystem. Their primary function should not be as an industrialized food pellet for Canadian fish farming. Canadian owned Omega Protein takes our resource at pennies on the dollar, lining their pockets at the expense of tens of thousands (not just a couple hundred) of Virginians who require a healthy abundant Chesapeake Bay to make a living.

Menhaden is a public resource for ALL Virginians. I love the Bay and its inhabitants -from the seabirds, marine mammals and predatory fish. Menhaden is vital to the Bay and to the tourism and game fishing industry. Omega Fisheries is a Canadian company feeding our resource to their salmon and destroying jobs in our Virginia. We need a scientific study that determines the state of the menhaden. For years we have asked the legislature to fund a study and every time they have refused. A study only makes sense ! We are allowing blindly Omega to overfish our waters. This has a detrimental effect on all of the Bay! As a Virginian I am asking you to protect our resources as you should. Thank you!

I strongly support this proposed pause on menhaden harvesting until studies can determine its effect on the food web and the ecology in the Chesapeake Bay, including most notably the osprey and the striped bass. Ospreys depend on menhaden, and osprey populations are in danger of collapsing. Please vote yes on this bill

Please pause menhaden harvesting until further studies can determine the impact on other fish and birds such as the Osprey. Osprey populations are dwindling around the Chesapeake Bay and menhaden fish are a primary food source for the young "fish-hawks". Please take action on industrial menhaden fishing until science can prove there is no disruption to the food web such as for the striped bass. Temporarily halt industrial harvests. Thank you. Judy Hinch-424 Shorebird Lane Chesapeake VA