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A Dorchester County judge has denied a watermen's group's bid to reopen Maryland's menhaden fishery, but ordered a trial scheduled next spring on how the Department of Natural Resources has imposed catch limits on the prized bait fish.

A group of Maryland watermen has filed suit seeking to overturn the state's catch limit on menhaden, arguing that it violates state and federal law and that the forage fish is not in need of conservation.

No one really knows why the crucial Atlantic Coast fish is declining

Atlantic menhaden received some much-needed protections from regulators this month, but now it's up to Virginia to comply with the new rules

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided Friday to cut the commercial harvest of Atlantic menhaden by 20 percent, seeking to balance saving an ecologically important fish with limiting the economic pain the cut would inflict an the fishing industry.

Busloads of fishermen are coming to Baltimore for a showdown Friday over how much to cut back the industrial-scale harvest of a little, oily fish that figures prominently in the seafood industry.

The commission is scheduled to decide in Baltimore Dec. 14 how much, if at all, to reduce the allowable catch and how quickly.

Sandy forces cancellation of Eastern Shore hearing Tuesday on possible reduction in Atlantic menhaden catch, though a second Maryland hearing in Calvert County is still planned.

Hearings seek public comment on whether to curtail catches of Atlantic menhaden, and if so, by how much.

Maryland attorney general Gansler says lawsuit possible if Atlantic States fisheries regulators don't do enough to curb Virginia-based Omega Protein's catch of menhaden

Decision for interstate commission to regulate menhaden catch should pay big dividends for Maryland striped bass

'Most important fish in the sea' is food for striped bass, birds

Catch restrictions loom on menhaden, a fish too unsavory to grace a dinner plate but much sought by fishermen, who sell them for animal feed, heart-healthy oils for humans and bait to catch other fish — including Maryland's iconic blue crabs.

Slow moving ASMFC still struggling with lobster, striped bass regulation but makes right call concerning menhaden