Saving Seafood

MISSISSIPPI: CMR denies Jackson County’s request for 1-mile menhaden fishing limit

April 20, 2016 — BILOXI, Miss. — The Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources denied Jackson County’s request to limit menhaden fishing to at least a mile off the county’s mainland.

The vote was unanimous and came after the commission listened to arguments from both sides of the issue.

On March 7, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to ask the state to limit menhaden boats to 1 mile offshore. The move would have closed 22 square miles of the Sound to commercial fishing by the company Omega Protein of Moss Point.

Both the Coastal Conservation Association and Omega Protein went before the CMR.

In the final vote, it came down to science and concern for industry.

Read the full story at the Sun Herald

MISSISSIPPI: ‘Nobody wants a menhaden’ mayor tells supervisors

March 21, 2016 — PASCAGOULA — Moss Point Mayor Billy Broomfield defended his city’s major industry, Omega Protein, to Jackson County supervisors on Monday.

He said the menhaden fishery would be hard hit if the county follows through with plans to ask the state to restrict menhaden fishing in the Mississippi Sound to one mile off the Jackson County coast. Harrison and Hancock counties already do that.

The restriction is in part to stop by-catch and overfishing.

Read the full story at Sun Herald

MISSISSIPPI: Jackson County supervisors vote to keep menhaden boats one mile out

March 7, 2016 — Jackson County’s Board of Supervisors decided Monday to have its meetings videotaped and posted for the public to see online.

Also on Monday, the board, in a split vote, decided to ask the state to restrict menhaden fishing to one mile off the Jackson County mainland.

A spokesman for Omega Protein, a commercial menhaden fishing operation out of Moss Point, tried to convince the board that it would hurt their $46 million-a-year industry, but county Supervisor Troy Ross said he sees it as a protection measure for fish in the Mississippi Sound.

Company spokesman Rick Schillaci told the board the Omega Protein already self-imposes a half-mile restriction in Jackson County and asked county leaders not to impose one mile.

“There is no real justification of you pushing us off,” Schillaci said, “And you’re going to send a message to businesses in Jackson County that this Board of Supervisors is not supportive of industry.”

He accused the board of bowing to recreational fishermen.

Read the full story from the Sun Herald