# THIS MEANS WAR!(omega)



## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

The beach and water in EOV right now is choked with dead bunker that are ~7-12". They are all up and down the waterline in the hundreds, but the real story is the water, as far as I can see it is littered with dead bunker, there has to be thousands.   Guess who just took a bunch of photos and is about to call the VMRC right now............


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

And those dead ones won't go their quota. Give em hell Gotcha!


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

FIRE IN THE HOLE! Just got of the phone with the VMRC Law Enforcement Operations Station in Newport News and they quickly and intently took down my name and phone # and are sending someone out right now! Omega just pissed off the wrong fisherman, I hope they get burned for this or at least something makes the paper and the politicians start paying us more attention. Anybody who lives around here and is witnessing anything similar please light up the phone lines at the VMRC.


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## Rob Holtz (Jul 29, 2000)

Please send me those pics. I'll PM you my e-mail.


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## Digger (Jan 4, 2000)

Heck just post them. WHere's Newsjeff.


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## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

I'm sending the news chopper right now. If you have any pics, please send them to me, OK,

Thanks.


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## Hat80 (Sep 22, 2002)

*Post the pics,*

It might help get more people involved if the see Omega's dirty deeds! ....Hat


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## Advisor (Jan 12, 2003)

Did anyone call the local TV channels?


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## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

The chopper is overhead right now. They don't see anything. If someone has a cross street or exact location, please call the station at 396-6181.


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## rndhededflip (Apr 19, 2006)

what the hell is going on??? should i go to this place and investigate???


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## saltdawg (Nov 21, 2005)

*good job*

i was out there on friday and there was bunker bones everywhere you stepped. what a terrible sight. hope the worst for OMEGA.


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

Between Inlet and 1st Bay, chopper was a mile too far to the east.


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

Don't see much of anything still floating, but the waterline is blanketed with dead bunker, so if you need something to get pissed off about c'mon down to E.OV and take a stroll on the beach.

P.S. I'm not able to upload pictures, or at least I have no idea how to, I will get the film developed ASAP and send the pics to Rob so he can put them up here and get them out to the right people as well.


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

I think it would be a really big help if someone in the area that knows what they are doing as far as posting up pictures is concerned could come out and take some photos so we can get them on P&S but more importantly send them to the papers and to NewsJeff at WAVY-10. If someone is willing I would suggest parking near East Oceanview Ave. and Inlet Dr. then walk out the public access that is directly across the street from Inlet out to the beach from there. C'mon guys Jeff sent up a chopper for cripe's sake, somebody around here has got to have the time to take some still shots.


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## Hat80 (Sep 22, 2002)

*e-mail the pics to me.*

I'll post them in this thread and newsjeff can copy them on the spot. .....Hat

[email protected]


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## rattler (Jul 3, 2004)

next problem...prove it was omega and not a flattie dredge...or gill netter...:--|


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

GMack, sent ya a PM with my #. I will help ya upload em if I can.


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2006)

GotchaMack said:


> The beach and water in EOV right now is choked with dead bunker that are ~7-12". They are all up and down the waterline in the hundreds, but the real story is the water, as far as I can see it is littered with dead bunker, there has to be thousands.   Guess who just took a bunch of photos and is about to call the VMRC right now............


You don't say how you know it's Omega. Can you provide some details?


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

Well, just came off the beach, talked to the two VMRC officers that had been dispatched on my report, first talked to them on the phone and had them park on at Inlet and OV Ave. so I could meet them on the beach. The frappin' guy said this is "normal" and that he has seen "much worse," what a freakin' joke!!! :--|  He informed me that the Omega boats have been working this area and the mouth of the Bay very hard for the last two weeks and that these fish are "lost" fish that either slip through flaws in the nets or are gilled by the nets and therefore do no make it into the vaccum. If you ask me it all sounded like a bunch of B#@$%&*!. If this kind of waste is an acceptable level of dead loss on a daily basis for the Omega boats, then who cares about the quota, it is MEANINGLESS, it looks like a freakin holocaust out there and these people are telling me it is normal. B#[email protected]!$%^!!!! All of E.OV is covered in dead fish and a Marine Resources Commission Officer is telling me it is NORMAL! [email protected]#!&%$#!! Call me crazy but if those fish covering the waterline out there were croaker,spot,roundhead,trout,striper,blues,.....skates!, anything but bunker those two guys would have been calling for air support and activating the national guard. I'm so freakin' mad right now at all these ignorant, useless, apathetic, two-faced, greedy, and idiotic industries and govt agencies/officials that I could honestly spontaneously combust. There are enough fish on that beach now so that a person could walk for miles on the incoming tide line without ever stepping on a grain of sand. Little sidenote on this debacle, the officer who informed me of the _normality_ of this HOLOCAUST is a former commercial gill netter. Now don't jump on me all of you commercial guys out there, I have nothing against watermen, in fact I admire them, but only those who make a good and honest living while respecting the sea. Well there is nothing good, honest, or respectful about any piece of this mess, so I don't wanna hear it. So everything is just "******-dory" here in OV, get the wife and the kids and bring them on out to the beach for a wonderful, "normal," beautiful evening, just don't forget your freakin' noseplug and a pair of krapkicker boots!!!!!!!!!!!!!     :--|


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## Digger (Jan 4, 2000)

I hear you and suffer the pain with you, unfornutualy this is probably normal. I just hope the regular population could learn of their waist. Remember this whta you see is probably less than .01% of what they take. Scary is it not.

One of the things that has been justified with Buunker populations is the lack of recruitment. 7-12 inch fish are the breeders which would support the future groth of the populations. Which were so large at one time that Captian John Smith said you could catch them in frying pans. Omega says the populations are just fine.


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## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

I spoke with officer Mike Morris with the VMRC. I think Morris is the same person who GotchaMack spoke with on the beach. 

To make a long story short, Morris said the dead menhaden were the result of Omega Protein doing its job.  

Morris told me the dead menhaden were lost when they were transferred from the water to the Omega boats. The number of dead menhaden didn't rank in the top 10 cases he has worked in the last decade.  

Morris said gill netters were working in the area, too. He said some of the dead bunker could have been released from the gill nets. 

Digger, most of the dead bunker found today were in the 7"-10" range.


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## Loop Wing (Aug 23, 2006)

well it just made the news 11:33 on Fox 43. For about 5 seconds, just said it was being investigated.


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## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

I don't write the copy, just give our producers the info.

The producers had the same (just about exact) as I posted above.  

By the way, I don't think the VMRC is investigating ... . 

We mighta put a reporter on it if we didn't have a local sailor killed in Iraq. Along with a mother in Portsmouth who allegedly left her four babies home alone in the Jeffrey Wilson housing project. Ages 5, 2, 1 and a newborn.  

I love my job.


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## Rob Holtz (Jul 29, 2000)

Channel 10 news did show some copter footage of dead bunker floating in the water.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Usually it's due to a net breakage when they try to round up to many at one time. 

What would really grab some attention to this problem would be a huge mass of dead bunker floating up on the Va. Beach oceanfront right in front of 50,000 tourists. If it ever does happen Va. Beach city council would probably make some wheels turn fast.


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

Glad to hear it made the news, however brief, if it got just one more person educated and disgusted then at least the day's efforts were not a waste. I apologize if my rant eariler offended or shocked anyone, I was a wee-bit wound up at that point in time. I came off of the beach feeling as if I'm by myself in this fight(aside from P&S of course ), here were the "official" defenders of the state's marine ecosystems and they could not have cared less, the conversation really left me feeling hopeless for the future. NJ, thanx for the chopper  , he got here before I even got to read the post stating that you had alerted them, now that is service!   As soon as I can catch a few more picture-worthy fish or some good sunrises/sets I will develop the roll with the photos of today's slaughter and send them to someone to be posted. We oughta work on a poster with the pics that says something on it like "Omega's Idea of A Healthy Chesapeake," then slap one up on that Health and Science center they have, and the Governor's Mansion.  The moral of today's story is it only takes a moment or a phone call to make a difference in this fight or any other conservation issue, apathy was enough to bring down Rome, and at this point it is more than enough to bring an end to this Bay which is gasping for air already.


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## StephenVa (Nov 11, 2005)

Good job Gotcha. It's always nice to see someone get involved and passionate about things. Too often people dismiss the sight you've seen for just "the oceans way". Even if you opened one eye today concerning the matter it could have been enough. Fight the good fight!

I have a question... I don't live in the area but I have before seen a similar sight while in the Chesapeake a few years ago. Anyway... Being that PETA is headquartered there and I know they are after fisherman now after seeing their ridiculous comic about "daddy fishing" how come they don't get more involved with things like this? I personally think it's a terrible organization... But if someone could get Omega on their bad side wouldn't it benefit all of us? At least for the purpose of shutting down Omega? Excuse and ignore the question if they're already on Omega's ass.


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## Gotta Go (Aug 4, 2006)

Keep PETA out of this at all costs. All they need to do is get their foot in the door and then what is next? Taking more spot than we should? Trapping the poor little crabs in a cage and then dropping them in a big steaming pot alive?

Like you said, they are a horrible organization that will eventually go after eating apples because you may bite into a worm.

The only way to get a company like Omega is through their pocket books. In a cast like this, it would be PR. The little bit that has happened now is a start. This pictures loaded on this sight will slip out to other sights. Even if they are sent in to the local papers, they may be published. Send them to the Save the Bay Foundation. I think they would take notice be cause the decaying fish pulls oxygen out of the water that is needed for the bay's eco system. This is all a good start.

My rant for the day!


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## permit (May 10, 2003)

*Hate to say it, but*

as a life long resident of virginia, and way into middle age i can say, without a doubt, that the VMRC is the finest law enforcement agency money can buy, and it is not the state's money that has bought them. save your breath, nothing will ever change, hell just go to one of their meetings and you will clearly see they are deep into the pockets of the commercial side of the business and have little concern for recreational fishermen.


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## Oyster (Jun 28, 2000)

I think calling VMRC is barking up the wrong tree. They are fish cops and no fish laws were violated. But this is an extreme case of littering, illegal dumping or creating a public nuisance/hazard at the least and Norfolk police should have been called to investigate. There is also the matter of rotting fish on a heavily used public beach creating a health hazard, which would involve the health department. When you make a mess, you have to clean it up, ask Exxon.


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## Wheatland_Whilly (Jul 17, 2005)

*ask Exxon?*

they STILL havent paid a dime...not one cent..look it up!


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## baitslingin (Jul 31, 2005)

so did you stock up on any of the ones that mighta been fresh at the time... cause bunker gonna be scarse soon


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## Oyster (Jun 28, 2000)

Wheatland_Whilly said:


> they STILL havent paid a dime...not one cent..look it up!


Exxon paid 1.28 billion toward the actual cleanup (look it up). It’s the additional fines levied by the govt. that are in dispute. But all that is irrelevant. The point is, there is more than one way to skin a cat and I think the original complaint was misdirected and should have gone to the local cops and others for the reasons stated.


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## Wheatland_Whilly (Jul 17, 2005)

*yup*



Oyster said:


> Exxon paid 1.28 billion toward the actual cleanup (look it up). It’s the additional fines levied by the govt. that are in dispute. But all that is irrelevant. The point is, there is more than one way to skin a cat and I think the original complaint was misdirected and should have gone to the local cops and others for the reasons stated.


I stand corrected..was the fines I were thinkin of


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## al bundy (Aug 11, 2006)

*plovers*

should have told them the dead fish where going to harm the friggin piping plovers. 
that would have bunched there pantines.
they should take those guys and let them do some thing usfull that they can handle like picking up trash 
in a local state park!!!


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## Dyhard (Oct 24, 2002)

Does anyone know what products (brand names) Omega sells to?
Please tell us so that we can BOYCOT THEM ALL!! and send messages to those companies.


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