Menhaden fishermen say proposed Louisiana buffers threaten fishing communities
Published onOcean Harvesters and Westbank Fishing are extremely concerned with last weeks decision by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission to approve a Notice of Intent (NOI) that would impose a one-mile buffer zone for menhaden fishing along the states coastline and a 3-mile buffer around Cameron Parish in Southwest Louisiana. We believe that this decision is not supported by any scientific evidence and will be economically harmful to the menhaden fishery and Louisianas fishing communities. We believe Louisianas waters should be shared by all user groups. The new coastwide buffer zone is not necessary for menhaden management. Rather, its the result of a long-debated, often political, user conflict thats already been considered and defeated by the Louisiana Legislature and this Commission. Simply put, these new buffer zones prioritize recreational anglers over commercial fishermen. Additionally, the Commission chose to move forward without consideration of economic data. As numerous ...
Read More
Fish spills spur call for more menhaden regulations
Published onWith news of more large-scale fish dumps in coastal Louisiana waters in recent weeks, advocates are calling for more regulations on the menhaden industry. Read more
Read More
Pogy spills place menhaden industry in spotlight
Published onThree massive fish spills that coated waves and beaches off the southwest coast of Louisiana last week has renewed calls for tighter restrictions on the menhaden industry. Read more
Read More
Virginia looks to expand blue catfish fishery and processing
Published onThe Virginia Department of Agriculture and Customer Services (VDACS) - International Marketing Division sponsored a seafood promotional event bringing in international chefs, food critics and writers to visit a blue catfish processing plant on Aug. 30 in Hampton, Va. The group toured the processing plant of L. D. Amory Company Inc. one of only three blue catfish processing plants in the state. Meade Amory of Armory Seafood explained to the group that during the 1970s and 80s blue catfish were introduced to the James, Rappahannock and York river basins as a new recreational fish by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. Blue cats are native to Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers. Executive director of the Virginia Marine Products Board Mike Hutt (speaking) and Meade Amory (left) of L. D. Amory Company Inc. in Hampton Va. are selling a group of international chefs and visitors on the food value of Virginia blue ...
Read More
Menhaden skipper is said to violate La. closed-area
Published onThe captain of a menhaden ship was cited for fishing within a restricted buffer zone off Terrebonne Parish near Vermillion Bay early this month, the first such citation under new rules. According to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Michael J. Tapper, 47, of Moss Point, Miss. used his 154-foot mother ship to fish well inside a new buffer zone that restricts menhaden fishing within a quarter mile of the coast. Read more
Read More
Va. anglers want menhaden seiners out of the Chesapeake
Published onRICHMOND Virginia fishermen want action to be taken to keep industrial menhaden operations in the state in check. Menhaden are a nutrient-rich fish and a key part of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. However, their numbers are dwindling, due in large part to the rate they are being fished out of the Bay for consumption. Surveys show youngmenhaden populationsare dwindling, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Read moreRICHMOND — Virginia fishermen want action to be taken to keep industrial menhaden operations in the state in check. Menhaden are a nutrient-rich fish and a key part of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. However, their numbers are dwindling, due in large part to the rate they are being fished out of the Bay for consumption. Surveys show young menhaden populations are dwindling, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Read more
Read More
Video: Amid criticism, menhaden harvester launches fish spill response boat
Published onOmega Protein, the nations largest menhaden processing operation, is often under fire for its fishing practices inside the Chesapeake Bay. But angler and environmentalist concerns reached a boiling point the last two years, when fish spills sent dead menhaden onto Virginia beaches. But Omegas fishing partners, Ocean Harvesters, say they have a plan to stop the problem. They just debuted the first fish spill response vessel. Read more
Read More
Thousands of dead fish wash up on Texas beach
Published onThousands of dead fish washed up on a Texas gulf coast beach this week, blanketing the shore with putrid carcasses, shocking photos show. The horde of rotting Menhaden fish were found Friday at Bryan Beach near the mouth of the Brazos River, a few miles down the coast from Quintana Beach County Park in Brazoria County, local officials said. Read more
Read More
Proposed menhaden ban blocked in Virginia legislature
Published onVirginia state House Bill 1383, recently introduced by Delegate Tim Anderson of Virginia Beach to shut down Virginias menhaden reduction fishery in all of the states territorial ocean waters and inland Bay waters for two years, was unanimously tabled Jan. 18 by the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee. The vote was 22-0 to table and pass by indefinitely.The bill has a delayed effective date of Nov. 18, 2023 and a sunset date of Nov. 22, 2025. Normally when they vote PBI it means the bill dies forever unless someone brings it back next year, said Montgomery Deihl, vice president of operations for Omega Protein in Reedville, Va. But the fact that it was a unanimous vote sends a strong signal that there's no support for it. The menhaden fishery ran into issues this summer with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkins office when there was an Omega Protein ...
Read More
What It Really Takes To Preserve Fishing History with Blacks of the Chesapeake
Published onFor over forty years, Admiral Vince Leggett toed the line of waterman, career educator, and founder of the Blacks of the Chesapeake, a foundation to preserve African American and Black culture on a stretch of the Mid-Atlantic shores. Whats fascinating is how Leggett formulated solutions and connections to uplift all parties while staying true to the mission at hand. The following is a raw conversationwith a true Marylander about becoming a legacy leader in the fishing industry, the inner challenges that arise whena passion project transforms into a pillar of history, and ajourneyto preservea past while building a future. (*edited for length) What It Really Takes To Preserve Fishing History with Admiral Vince Leggett of Blacks of the Chesapeake: MW: Id love to hear updates since your talk with Captain Lamont Wright and Imani Black of Minorities of Aquaculture. You mentioned working on a collaboration with the American fishery ...
Read More
ASMFC stock assessment says menhaden not overfished
Published onA new menhaden stock assessment update for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission found the resource is not overfished nor experiencing overfishing. The commissions Aug. 3 acceptance of the reportcame as critics of Omega Proteins reduction fishery fleet based at Reedville, Va., put more political pressure on state officials to restrict fishing in Chesapeake Bay. Nets spilling menhaden that washed up on beaches was one source of the latest rancor. But the ASMFC actions at its meeting in Alexandria, Va., dealt with the larger, longstanding debate over the recreational fishing sectors belief that menhaden purse seiners are removing too much forage fish that feed striped bass and other species. Significantly, this assessment was completed using new ecological reference points, standards that account for the needs of predator species when determining menhaden's sustainable status, according to a statement from the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition, an industry group. The ASMFC's ecosystem ...
Read More
Bayou to Bristol Bay: NamJet goes niche
Published onLike many of the big jet makers, NamJet has spent much of the last few years cashing in on the shift from propellers to jets in Bristol Bay. Phil Organ, NamJets director of business development, estimates his company has around 130 bay boats with his companys jets. Thats been our go-to for a while now. Over the last eight or 10 years, waterjets have almost become standard up there. Most of them that Ive done are 730- or 750-horse, but they go all the way up to 800-horsepower, Organ said. Organ added that a large part of NamJets bay projects have been 24-inch, single inline jets paired with Scania or Man engines. Another staple for NamJet in the past years has been seine skiffs for Alaskas salmon fleet. We have so many seine skiffs in Alaska with our jets that Ive lost count, Organ said. But ...
Read More
NOAA, menhaden industry study turtle interactions
Published onWorking with the Gulf of Mexico menhaden fleet, NOAA researchers are working on a methodology for learning about potential sea turtle interactions with purse seines, using a combination of at-sea observers, drones and electronic monitoring cameras on menhaden boats. One of NOAAs Gulf Spill Restoration projects funded by the BP natural resources damage settlement stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion the turtle study began in 2020 and conducted field trials with industry vessels over five days in October 2021, according to a NMFS summary Jan. 19. Typically deployed in teams of menhaden steamers with 40-foot seine boats, the fleet harvests menhaden for processing into pet, aquaculture and livestock feeds, fertilizer and fishing bait. In the Gulf of Mexico that brings the possibility of protected sea turtles showing up in nets, but there isnt a strong understanding of if and when sea turtles are caught, according to NMFS ...
Read More
Points of pride: Atlantic states commission takes bold step on menhaden
Published onOn Aug. 5, 2020, at their meeting in Arlington, Va., the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission demonstrated bold, decisive leadership in implementing ecological reference points to manage Atlantic menhaden. ERPs are numeric benchmarks used by managers to promote not only the sustainable harvest of menhaden but also broader ecosystem needs, such as supporting key predators. The recommended catches of menhaden are necessarily lower under ERPs than they would have been without them. With more than 100 years of fishery science experience among us, we believe the commissions decision represents a sea change in how we manage marine fishes. Although not on restaurant menus, nor a target of anglers, menhaden support important fisheries that use them as bait for lobster and crab; as fish meal to feed salmon, poultry, and other livestock; and in the production of omega-3 fish oil supplements. But menhaden is a key forage species, important in ...
Read MoreAtlantic States commission to consider menhaden’s ecological role
Published onRecreational fishing and environmental advocates applauded as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission agreed Aug. 5 to consider the larger value of menhaden to the ocean ecosystem in developing its management plans. The step means the commission will start to account for menhadens role as food for other fish species, including striped bass, bluefish and weakfish a goal for decades among recreational fishing groups. This is a historic day for fisheries management. Menhaden have been called the most important fish in the sea for good reason, said William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, referring to the title of a 2007 book by menhaden conservation advocate H. Bruce Franklin. The Rutgers University professor and cultural historian called for valuing menhaden for their ecological services, warning then of ominous signs that we may have pushed our most important fish to the brink of an ecological catastrophe. The Atlantic states ...
Read More
With whale strandings up, NOAA urges caution for boaters
Published onA spring and summer recreational boating season marked by frequent whale encounters in the New York Bight has federal officials stressing that boaters must obey the law and keep a safe distance from marine mammals. One of 10 endangered right whale calves birthed off the East Coast in recent months was found dead June 27 near Monmouth Beach, N.J. A necropsy determined the young male was struck at least twice by a vessel, suffering wounds from propellers and skegs. A close inshore encounter in late May on New Jerseys Navesink River resulted in a powerboat bumping over a humpback whale without serious injury and social media posts from New Jersey and New York waters frequently depict boaters and anglers close to breaching whales feeding on plentiful schools of menhaden. The NMFS Greater Atlantic regional office recently teamed up with On the Water Media LLC to produce a YouTube video ...
Read More
