As posted on @VirginiaBeachInshoreFishing (VBIF)
Hi, Paul here from Menhaden Defenders. After reading some of the comments my brief thoughts are as follows: Vessel shown is not a trawler and does not tow gear, its basically a 200 foot long “carry” boat. A ship like this holds 2 million bunker and after leaving an area gamefish, whales and other predators leave.
Based
out of Reedville VA, they work as a team with a plane and a couple of purse net boats. Omega is NOT a federally contracted company.They are now a foriegn owned company (Cooke Inc). Its no longer a public company and has no shareholders. The only place they are still allowed to operate inside the 3 mile line is VA. They must stay out in the EEZ elsewhere along the coast. They are in the business of grinding menhaden into fish meal and fish oil. This is called reduction fishing and should not be confused with bunker that are caught and used whole as trap bait for crab and lobster. Parent company COOKE operates fish farm facilities all over the world and these fish are used to feed them, among other products. While we recognize that Omega offers local employment to a couple of hundred people, they selfishly and consistently fail to recognize the localized depletion that occurs wherever the boats operate. Especially inside the Chesapeake Bay, a vital nursery that feeds the entire coast. The coastal economies and THOUSANDS of American jobs are affected from Maine to Texas. Its impossible to maintain sustainable, industrialized extraction of a key forage species at this point in time without sensitivity to the health and well being of nature and humans that depend on the sea to make a living. Visit our page and website to learn more and get involved. Yes, its that important. Thanks. www.menhadendefenders.org
