Saving Seafood

New fish spill cleanup boats on Chesapeake Bay

August 23, 2023 — Omega Protein’s last menhaden net tear on Chesapeake Bay has led to the firm designing and building a new clean-up vessel called a “skimmer boat.” It is designed to rapidly pick up dead fish on and below the surface of the water.

The 20’ x 8’ aluminum garvey-style boat was designed and built by Lambert Walker of Reedville, Va., who retired from Omega in 2013. Walker was asked to come out of retirement to build a new boat. Before he had retired, he had built a similar boat for the same type of use.

Walker, 72, says he is “just an old welder.”  He is an old welder and much more.  Walker started working in the companies’ metal shop in 1973, when Omega Protein was then known as Zapata Haynie Corporation.

His boatbuilding skills and knowledge have come from 40 years of building aluminum purse seine boats and handling maintenance needs on the companies’ equipment and on Omega’s steel hull fishing vessels.

“I just took out my scale rule, drew it up and welded it together,” he says modestly. “It is a nice little boat, and it will meet the need when it is necessary.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Wittman leads House members in legislation to protect Chesapeake Bay

July 23, 2023 — The Chesapeake Bay SEEE Act would help protect the watershed, improve ecosystem management and increase environmental stewardship opportunities.

Congressman Rob Wittman of Virginia, U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland, Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott of Virginia and Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia reintroduced the Chesapeake Bay Science, Education and Ecosystem Enhancement (SEEE) Act today.

“The Chesapeake Bay is integral to our way of life in Virginia’s 1st District and conserving our coastal and marine ecosystems has remained one of my top priorities,” Wittman, co-chair of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force, said. “I am proud to join my colleagues in this effort to expand environmental education opportunities, boost state and local restoration efforts and provide NOAA with the resources it needs to protect this national treasure.”

Read the full article at Augusta Free Press

MARYLAND: Maryland congressional delegation announces USD 3.8 million for meat and blue catfish processors

July 5, 2023 — U.S. federal lawmakers from the state of Maryland have revealed that USD 3.8 million (EUR 3.5 million) in loan funding has been made available to local meat and catfish processors.

Although Chesapeake Bay fishermen harvest more than 5 million pounds of invasive blue catfish annually, there are only 18 USDA-approved inspection facilities, resulting in a processing bottleneck. The funding announced last week will help local producers expand or establish operations to help cut those processing times.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Seafood Watch draft report hits Chespeake Bay oysters with “avoid” rating

June 1, 2023 — A Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program draft assessment downgrades the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) caught in the Chesapeake Bay “avoid,” drawing criticism from scientists, officials, conservationists, and fishers.

The draft report  rated wild-caught oysters in the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia harvested both with hand implements and towed dredges as seafood to avoid, citing a “high concern” for the status of the stock and of the management of the fishery.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

VIRGINIA: Chesapeake Bay menhaden steamers christened

April 25, 2023 — Omega Shipyard in Moss Point, Miss., recently delivered the $8 million 180’x40’ F/V Reedville to Ocean Harvesters, suppliers to Omega Protein in Reedville, Va.

A traditional maritime christening ceremony of the F/V Reedville and F/V Little River was held on Saturday, April 22, to kick off the 2023 menhaden fishing season starting May 8.

With the new season, there’s hope that an agreement between menhaden fishermen, Virginia state officials, and other Chesapeake Bay user groups will reduce longstanding conflicts.

The christening was held on the docks at the Reedville plant, where the company’s fleet of nine fish steamers are moored. The 180’x40’x7’ Little River was not christened at the time of delivery in 2020 because of the covid-19 pandemic.

The Reedville, Little River, and the F/V Carters Creek, delivered in 2017, are all converted hulls from offshore supply vessels (OSVs) formerly employed in the offshore oil and gas industry. The three finished boats are almost identical.

The ceremony started with the singing of the National Anthem by Charlotte Blackwell, 10, daughter of Capt. William Blackwell, who is the master of the F/V Reedville.

Hannah Long, environmental manager of Omega Protein, was the master of ceremonies for the event, and she told the history behind the ancient ceremony of christening a boat for “good luck.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

VIRGINIA: Limits to be placed on menhaden fishing in Chesapeake Bay

April 25, 2023 — The menhaden fishery that supplies Omega Proteins’ plant in Reedville said it would limit the areas where it fishes, largely avoiding more populated coastal areas of the lower Eastern Shore of Virginia and Hampton Roads, including Virginia Beach.

Ocean Harvesters, which has an exclusive, long-term supply agreement with Omega Protein of Reedville, has continuously operated in the area since 1878 and announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the state of Virginia Wednesday. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted in December in favor of it.

The agreement, Ocean Harvesters said, is expected to limit potential sources of conflict between the fishery and other users in the Chesapeake Bay, “and is part of the fishery’s efforts to be responsible stewards of our shared marine resources.”

Omega uses the small, oily-fleshed silver fish and turns it into fish oil and fish meal

The fishery will not be able to operate in waters within one mile of the Hampton Roads/Virginia Beach area, and the lower Eastern Shore, and it will put new limits on when and where the menhaden fishery can operate.

Read the full article at WAVY

$1M to help with ‘vital’ Chesapeake Bay improvement

March 27, 2023 — The Chesapeake Bay Trust nonprofit based in Annapolis, Maryland, will receive over $1 million in funding from the federal government to strengthen tidal wetland restoration, public education and bolster green infrastructure projects.

In a news release Friday, U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressman John Sarbanes announced that $1,129,063 in federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will go toward local projects to restore, preserve and protect the Chesapeake Bay.

“The health of the Chesapeake Bay is vital to the health of our communities and our regional economy,” said Van Hollen.

“We fought to pass the infrastructure modernization law — and within it to boost resources for our efforts to protect the Bay — in order to invest in projects like this that will help restore our wetlands and habitats that serve as essential filters to prevent pollutants from poisoning the Bay.”

Read the full article at WTOP

MARYLAND: Gov. Moore requesting federal assistance in protecting the Chesapeake Bay from invasive fish species

March 19, 2023 — Governor Wes Moore is federal assistance for the Chesapeake Bay, amid concerns of an increase in invasive fish species, the Governor’s office said Thursday.

According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the population and value of Maryland’s most important commercial fish has decreased since 2012, which hurts the state economy.

Although a direct connection to invasive species is not confirmed, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is concerned about the high density of invasive fish like blue catfish, which may negatively affect native species by competing for space and food.

“You’ll never eradicate them, but you gotta get them down under control. They’re here to stay,” Maryland Watermen’s Association President Robert T. Brown said. “Mother Nature is always going to give you some type of balance. We do not like the balance we’re getting. It’s going the wrong way.”

In the past decade, harvest and value of native species in the Chesapeake Bay all declined. During the same time, numbers of invasive blue catfish and snakehead soared.

Read the full article at CBS News

VIRGINIA: Bill to require study of menhaden in Chesapeake Bay scaled back

February 14, 2023 — A proposal to study the menhaden population in the Chesapeake Bay was scaled back in the House Monday.

An earlier version of the bill from Sen. Lynwood Lewis, D-Accomack, asked the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to study the ecology, fishery impacts and economic importance of menhaden within the Chesapeake Bay over a two-year period.

But on Monday a House Rules subcommittee voted to amend the bill to only require VIMS to provide details of a potential study’s scope, including methodology, possible stakeholders, costs and timeline.

“I think your issue is totally legitimate, but we need to look at the health of the Bay in toto,” said Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Spotsylvania, noting studies can take five to 10 years to complete.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

House committee kills bill banning menhaden reduction fishery in Chesapeake Bay

January 19, 2023 — Legislative attempts to put a two-year moratorium on the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and expand the time period during which state officials can change the fishery regulations died Wednesday in committee.

The House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee unanimously voted to kill a bill from Del. Tim Anderson, R-Virginia Beach, that would have shut down the menhaden reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay for two years while the Virginia Marine Resources Commission conducted a study on its impacts.

Del. Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News, was absent from the meeting.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury