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by Ed Cherry
(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association October 2004 Newsletter)
As of September 1, 2004, the most current information available indicates for the same time period, the 2004 Atlantic Menhaden reduction catch from Reedsville and Beaufort combined is 109,881 total metric tons versus 92,084 total metric tons for 2003. This represents a net increase of 19.3% for year-to-year comparison. It also represents a 24.9 % increase over the 5-year average.
The age breakdown consists of 7% age 1 fish, 84% age 2 fish and 9 % fish 3 years and older. 91% of the catch is age 2 or less. Most current estimates are that 70% of the catch in 2004 has come from the VA portion of Chesapeake Bay (VA side of the Bay Bridge Tunnel . This number at this present time is only a rough estimate. More precise numbers will be available later in the year.
Yet, the ASMFC apparently has only now begun to act on this ongoing starvation problem of striped bass in the Chesapeake that was recognized as early as 1997. Additional articles referring to this problem also appear in this newsletter.
Below is a rather interesting newspaper article that appeared this spring pertaining to the ever-expanding Omega Corporation.
Do you think this article might relate to and exacerbate a serious ongoing problem?
Just wondering!
By Lawrence Latane III
April 25
REEDVILLE - Construction workers are finishing a $17 million food-grade fish-oil refinery on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay that could change the image and profitability of a bony fish once regarded as fit only for animal feed and industrial uses.
Omega Protein Corp., which began work on the 100 metric-ton-per-day refinery last year, has netted a contract with a Texas food processor that is adding Omega's fish oil to the tacos and tamales it makes for a 300,000-student school region in Texas.
The contract is the first big prize for Omega, which hopes to capitalize on the health benefits provided by Omega-3 fatty acids found in a bait fish called menhaden that the company nets from the bay and Atlantic Ocean by the ton.
And because the Texas processor, H&H Meat Products Co., also supplies school divisions in New Mexico, Arizona, California and Oregon, Omega thinks major markets are finally within reach.
"It's obvious to us the Omega-3 story is something about to happen," said Joseph von Rosenberg, Omega's president and CEO. "We hope [Texas] will be the first of many dominoes."
Houston-based Omega also operates three menhaden processing plants in Mississippi and Louisiana. Fifty-nine percent of the company's stock is owned by Zapata Corp., which had tried in vain to develop a human market for menhaden by experimenting with surimi production in the years before Omega assumed operations of the Reedville plant in the late 1990s.
Now, Omega officials believe the growing American interest in a healthy diet will give Omega a likely product in refined menhaden oil. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved menhaden oil for use in foods in 1997. The American Heart Association began recommending two years ago that Americans regularly include Omega-3 fats in their diets either through supplements or foods, such as salmon and other cold-water fish.
Omega-3 fatty acids have been found to improve brain and eye function and undo some of the damage caused by the typical American's high-fat diet, dietitians say. "There is strong evidence the Omega-3s are an advantage to preventing heart disease," said Janet Starkey, director of the nutrition clinic at Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems in Richmond. But, she added, further study is needed to determine the proper dietary amounts for children younger than 18.
Omega's food-grade product, called OmegaPure, is already being used in the manufacture of fish-oil capsules and such commonplace foods as salad dressings and buttery spreads. The product is also an ingredient in some post-operative drip solutions used in hospitals.
The new refinery under construction "will roughly triple our existing capacity to refine oil," said John Held, the company's general counsel.
Omega is also building a laboratory for the research and development of Omega-3 fortified foods at the new refinery. Company officials expect the refinery will be completed in July, which is in the middle of Omega's fishing season.
The company's demand for menhaden will remain about the same, despite the new oil refinery, Held said.
Traditionally, Omega has focused on making two products at its Reedville factory: fish meal and crude fish oil. The meal is used, along with the oil, in animal feeds, but the oil is also sold for a variety of industrial and manufacturing uses.
The new refinery will allow the company to turn more attention to refining food-grade fish oil. "We'll be able to utilize the oil we have, but rather than sell it at a market rate," Held said, "we'll put it through the refining process which allows us to have a value-added product."
Menhaden from Omega's 10 ocean-going ships made up the bulk of the 367.4 million pounds of fish and seafood landed in Reedville in 2002. The annual catch typically makes the Victorian-era village of Reedville the third biggest U.S. port in terms of fish landings, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
With the help of spotter aircraft, the company's fleet searches the bay and Atlantic coast for menhaden, herring like fish about a foot long which often gather in huge schools.
The sight of the new refinery rising above the pines near Cockrell's Creek is a welcome development for the 250 people who work for Omega and know the history of the menhaden industry's decline. Home of dozens of smoky, smelly fish factories in the 19th-century, economic forces narrowed Reedville's fish processing industry to only two businesses which consolidated into Omega in the late 1990s.
"When we see things like this, it does give you a little feeling that the plant will be around awhile," said Kenny Pinkard, the cook aboard the menhaden steamer Reedville. Pinkard is also a vice president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400, which represents some of Omega's Reedville workforce.
Von Rosenberg said he is trying to promote the use of fish-oil supplements in schools in other states, including Virginia. "I met with Governor [Mark R.] Warner in July," he said. He also contacted the Virginia Department of Education about using OmegaPure in school lunch programs.
A spokesman said the Department of Education leaves nutritional programs in the hands of local school boards. "We play no role in the procurement of food items," Charles Pyle said.
In Texas, the state's school administration specifically said that school districts should consider including Omega-3 fortified products in their lunch programs, von Rosenberg said.
H&H Meat Products Co. of Mercedes, Texas, is owned by a family that includes U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas. It is supplying OmegaPure enhanced foods to a 330,000-student school region that stretches across south Texas from Brownsville to Laredo.
Since introducing OmegaPure into school meals in February, "We have it in three items, a cheese sauce, tamales and some breakfast burritos," said Ruben Hinojosa Jr., vice president of sales and marketing.
Sales of the OmegaPure fortified items have been slow, but steady, chiefly because far fewer children eat school breakfast than eat lunch, Hinojosa said. He said OmegaPure usage will really take off if the company starts adding it to ground beef used for hamburger patties, which are a staple of lunch menus.
Texas A&M is studying the use of OmegaPure in ground beef. The trick is to find the exact amount of OmegaPure that is needed to enhance the nutritional value of the beef without affecting its flavor, Hinojosa said.
He predicts the use of the oil "is only going to grow from here."
Contact Lawrence Latane III at (804) 333-3461 or llatane@timesdispatch.com ,
