Saving Seafood

On the water, a different view of menhaden fishing

October 26, 2021 — In his recent op-ed (“Fish spills renew concerns about menhaden management,” Oct. 2), the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Chris Moore gives readers a picture of a menhaden fishery that I and my crew do not recognize.

I’ve fished menhaden here in Virginia for most of my life. The view of the fishery expressed by Moore and the CBF of a distant Canadian conglomerate that doesn’t care about the health of the bay or the future of this fishery, could not be further from the truth. It is ignorant and insulting to hundreds of hard-working, blue-collar menhaden fishermen.

Much has been made, both in Moore’s op-ed and elsewhere, of the fact that Omega Protein, Virginia’s oldest and largest fishing company, now has a Canadian parent company. But menhaden fishing has been a Virginia institution since 1878, and there has been a menhaden fishery operating out of Virginia’s Northern Neck continuously since then. I’m a local, my crew are all locals, and many of them come from African American families who have fished menhaden for generations. The majority of these families have been fishing in Virginia long before CBF has even existed.

A corporate address in Canada does not erase the deep Virginia roots of this fishery and the fishermen who are part of it.

Read the full opinion piece at the Virginian-Pilot

 

VIRGINIA: DAUGHTER OF REEDVILLE FISHERMAN’S MUSEUM FOUNDER NAMED PRESIDENT

August 16, 2021 — A good recipe for success in any venture is passion, love of a cause and the energy to make it happen—and leading a maritime museum is no different.

Becky Haynie of Reedville, Va. checks all three boxes for the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum where she was recently elected president of the board of directors.

Becky’s passion and love of the job comes from her late father Wendell Haynie who passed away Dec. 20, 2020. Wendall, his brother Braxton and Alice Butler spearheaded the formation of the Greater Reedville Association in 1988, which led to the creation of the museum.

Reedville has a rich Tidewater Virginia commercial fishing heritage. The founder of the town, Elijah Warren Reed of Brooklin, Maine, arrived on Chesapeake Bay in a three mast schooner during the summer of 1867 and established what was to become the modern-day menhaden fishery. By 1912, the town’s economy had become the highest per capita wealth of any town in the United States.

Going back to her early childhood, Becky witnessed the passion and love that her father had for Reedville and its maritime culture. “When I was a kid there were all these derelict fish boats on the shoreline and one was the [fish steamer] East Hampton,” said Becky. “I had a 12-foot skiff with a 4-hp motor and I lived on the creek. It was the spookiest thing to me with that old boat laid up on its side and open inside, and we climbed all over it.

“We are considering doing a working watermen’s tour, similar to a our Christmas House Tour, where we will take people to Walter Roger’s fish trap pier to see the fish and pound net boats,” she said. “Next, we could go to Fleeton Point Seafood where they shed crabs and grow oysters and the big ticket would be a visit to the Omega Protein plant, the largest menhaden plant on the East Coast.”

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

Video: Cooke subsidiary Omega Protein sinks vessel to create artificial reef

June 18, 2021 — The Defender, a decommissioned vessel previously operated on behalf of Canadian giant Cooke Inc.’s harvesting and fishmeal processing subsidiary Omega Protein, was sunk last week off the coast of Louisiana, Accesswire reported.

The vessel will serve as an artificial reef for the benefit of the Gulf’s diverse marine eco-system, the company said.

The aim of the sinking is for the vessel to become a marine habitat, promoting biodiversity and creating recreational fishing and diving opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico.

Omega Protein has a track record of working with state agencies and non-profit organizations to offer decommissioned vessels to artificial reef programs.

The Defender, previously owned by Ocean Harvesters and operated on behalf of Omega Protein, was donated to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) under its its artificial reef initiative.

Read the full story at IntraFish

Big debate over tiny fish goes unresolved as Louisiana pogie legislation dies

June 16, 2021 — The effort to create a buffer between Louisiana’s coastline and huge menhaden ships fell flat in the 2021 legislative session, dying last week in a House-Senate conference committee.

Sponsored by Rep. Joseph Orgeron, R-Larose, House Bill 535 initially proposed a half-mile exclusion zone, with wider buffers around some barrier islands. Conservationists and recreational fishers backed the bill, arguing it would provide fragile fish nursery grounds in nearshore habitats more protection from the industry’s 1,500-foot-long nets. Menhaden industry representatives said trawling a half mile farther from the coast could cut their revenue by 20% if captains couldn’t make up that catch elsewhere.

The Senate amended the buffer to an industry-supported quarter mile. Orgeron and the House rejected that June 8, throwing the bill into a conference committee to resolve differences between the two chambers, but the legislative session ended two days later without a report from the committee.

Ben Landry, Omega Protein’s director of public affairs, thinks additional regulation isn’t “biologically necessary,” and that it places undue burden on an industry already navigating natural burdens such as tropical storms and hurricane.

“It’s easy for the environmental groups to say, ‘They can go fish somewhere else.’ That’s really not the case,” Landry said. “User conflicts are inherent, and we try our best to minimize those, but a blanket coastwide ban is not something that we thought … was scientifically supportable.”

Read the full story at NOLA.com

Recreational fishers want Louisiana’s biggest commercial fishery to back off nearshore waters

June 7, 2021 — A small silver fish was the topic of a nearly three hour discussion among fishers, environmental advocates and lawmakers at the Louisiana Capitol this week. At issue was House Bill 535, which would not allow menhaden fishing within a quarter mile of Louisiana’s shore.

Menhaden, also called pogies, are small bait fish caught in the Gulf of Mexico to be sold as animal feed, fish oil and bait. It’s the largest commercial fishery in the state by volume. More than 1.1 billion pounds of menhaden were netted in Gulf waters in 2019, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But recreational fishers say that the boats used to catch the fish are coming too close to shore, and red drum and speckled trout are getting caught in their nets. Rep. Joseph Orgeron (R-Larose) introduced the bill at a Louisiana Senate Committee on Natural Resources meeting Wednesday. He said the legislation keeping menhaden fishers at least a quarter mile from shore was an attempt to compromise between pogie fishers, who want to continue to be able to fish closer to shore, and recreational fishers, who want to push the pogie boats a mile offshore.

Menhaden companies in Louisiana said that about 18% of the fish they catch are within a half mile of the coast. Orgeron’s bill initially proposed a buffer zone similar to Texas, but an amendment added to HB 535 during the committee hearing cut the buffer zone down from a half mile from shore to a quarter mile from shore. Still, companies said they would spend more time and money on fuel trying to catch fish further offshore.

The pogie industry has already shrunk because of economic difficulties, said Ben Landry, the director of public affairs for Omega Protein, one of three menhaden processors in the state. “It’s a little disingenuous to hear, ‘Well, they can just go someplace else and catch those fish, or it won’t hurt them,’” he said. Making up the 18% of catch caught in nearshore waters would be “awfully difficult,” he said.

While discussing the bill Orgeron said that a quarter mile buffer zone equates to 1,300 feet, about the distance from the state Capitol to the Mississippi River levee. Landry said that might seem like a small area. “But if I were looking for legislators this is where I’d go,” he said. “This is where menhaden are.”

Read the full story at the Louisiana Illuminator

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition Members Oppose Latest Louisiana Fishing Ban Bill

May 28, 2021 — Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) members located in the Gulf of Mexico are pushing back against a proposed Louisiana state bill that would ban menhaden vessels from fishing within half a mile of the entire Louisiana coast, 1 mile off of specific areas, and 3 miles off of Grand Isle.

The MFC argues that the legislation, H.B. 535, “presents a threat to coastal Louisiana jobs, yet has no observed scientific or environmental justification.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

Pogie ships would be forced farther from Louisiana coastline under bill OK’d by House

May 20, 2021 — After decades under lax regulation, the Louisiana House voted 67-28 Wednesday to require the state’s largest commercial fishery to cast its nets farther from the state’s fragile coastline.

Louisiana waters supplied 40% of the menhaden caught in 2019 across the United States, a catch worth tens of millions of dollars, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. In a given year, the industry’s 180-foot-long vessels and 1,500-foot-long nets ensnare 700 million to 1 billion pounds of the tiny, dart-like silver fish off the state’s shores.

But if House Bill 535 becomes law, Louisiana would forbid menhaden trawling within a half mile of shore, to reduce coastal erosion and limit damage to shallow nurseries of popular game fish species such as redfish and speckled trout. The bill now goes to the Senate. (Here’s how the House voted.)

Menhaden, also known as pogies or shad, are a keystone species in marine ecosystems, providing food for a wide range of larger fish and birds. When caught commercially, the oil-rich fish is ground up into animal feed, health supplements and fertilizers.

In negotiating the latest bill’s text, menhaden industry representatives stood firmly behind a quarter-mile exclusion zone, stating reports from recreational anglers were hyperbolic. Omega Proteins owns two of the three menhaden reduction plants on the Gulf Coast; Daybrook Fisheries owns the other. Louisiana hosts one in Abbeville and one in Empire.

Omega Proteins’ public affairs manager, Ben Landry, said a half-mile exclusion could cut into the industry’s bottom line as almost one fifth of menhaden harvest occurs within a half mile of the coast. That means some could lose jobs.

“I’m not saying some of that won’t be made up outside of that half mile,” Landry said. “But I can’t promise you that. Who’s family around here could face a 20% cut and then be told, ‘Oh, that’s not going to impact you.'”

Read the full story at NOLA.com

Omega trims Atlantic steamer fleet with conversion; pound-net skiff gets overhaul at Virginia railway

May 3, 2021 — With the help of Ampro Shipyard in Weems, Va., Omega Protein in Reedville is busy getting its menhaden fishing fleet ready for Virginia’s 2021 menhaden fishing season. The season opened in May.

Omega recently announced it’s cutting back on its Chesapeake Bay fishing fleet, as six boats will be fishing this season. Last year, the firm had seven menhaden steamers working Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Tideland, one of the largest and oldest vessels in the fleet, will leave the fishing end of the business. It will remain in the fleet, however, as a carry-away boat. The 218-foot Tideland was launched in 1966. “She has caught a jag of fish in her lifetime,” said Omega’s Reedville Vessels Manager Harvey Hamm.

Tideland will require only a minor conversion to switch from fishing boat to carry-away boat. It will require installation of new pumps, modification of the hydraulic system and some new stainless steel piping.

The work will be done with the boat in-water at the Omega Reedville plant by way of a partnership between the Ampro work force and Omega’s boat maintenance crew. “We rely on Ampro to do a lot of our work,” said Hamm. “When we have a need we can count on them coming to our place to jump in and take care of the problem.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New Video Shows Link Between Omega Protein and Local Fishing Communities

April 8, 2021 — The following was released by Omega Protein:

For over 100 years, Omega Protein has been more than just an employer; it’s been an integral part of our fishing communities on Virginia’s Northern Neck and in the Gulf of Mexico. The Company’s menhaden fisheries have provided dependable, well-paying jobs that have allowed generations of workers to build better lives for themselves and their families.

Some of those employees and members of the Reedville, Virginia community have come together to tell their story in our latest video, Omega Protein: Cornerstone of our Communities.

“My ancestors from my great-great grandfather to my grandfather, my father all worked here at Omega, so Omega has been part of our family for all five generations,” said P.J. Haynie III, a nationally recognized farmer and businessman in the Northern Neck. “50 years ago, a lot of young African American weren’t allowed to go off to college, weren’t allowed to get into the military, so they relied on a local source of work.”

P.J.’s father, businessman Philip Haynie II, also shares how working in the menhaden fishery helped him pay his way through college, and provide his family with new opportunities.

“While I was in college, they afforded me the opportunity to be employed in the summers,” said Mr. Haynie.  “Omega allowed me to pay my tuition and take care of myself, which took a lot of the burden and responsibility off of my parents, because if they hadn’t had done that then they would have had to made the decision, which one of their three children would have to drop out.”

Omega Protein is the single largest private employer in Northumberland County, Virginia. But it’s not just our employees who consider the fishery to be important. The Company has an established history of purchasing from local vendors and using local contractors whenever available, making sure to put as much money back into the community as possible.

“They do try to stay local. This factory has been essential, really for the whole community,” said Benjamin Paul Jones Jr., owner of Waller Oil Co. “My company would struggle without it. These guys that work here own homes around here, so I sell them heating oil. I sell gasoline up at my plant, so they buy gasoline to come back and forth to work. So if something happened to Omega, it would be a hardship.”

As part of our commitment to our communities, Omega Protein also regularly gives back, supporting the local civic organizations that make places like Reedville, Virginia, Moss Point, Mississippi, and Abbeville, Louisiana so vibrant. In the video, community members share how that commitment impacts them.

“There’s lots and lots of people who really depend on the fact that Omega will buy uniforms for a team, or for us they pay for the lion’s share of the fireworks on the Fourth of July,” said Lee Langston-Harrison, Director of the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum.  “I’m just one of many, many people. And it’s schools, and it’s community services, it’s the fire department, it’s the EMTs.”

About Omega Protein
Omega Protein Corporation is a century old nutritional product company that develops, produces and delivers healthy products throughout the world to improve the nutritional integrity of foods, dietary supplements and animal feeds. Omega Protein’s mission is to help people lead healthier lives with better nutrition through sustainably sourced ingredients such as highly refined specialty oils, specialty proteins products and nutraceuticals. Omega Protein is a division of Cooke Inc., a family owned fishery company based in New Brunswick, Canada.

The Company operates seven manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Canada and Europe. The Company also has a long-term supply contract with Ocean Harvesters, which owns 30 vessels which harvest menhaden, a fish abundantly found off the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The Company’s website is www.omegaprotein.com.

All fishing vessels formerly owned by Omega Protein are owned and operated by Ocean Harvesters, an independent company.