# Something fishy in Reedville, VA - must read article



## kurazy kracka (Oct 14, 2008)

:copied from another forum: 


Why You Shouldn’t Go There (And It’s Not Why You Think)
by Chris | Jun 10, 2014 | Vacilando - a Cal 35 | 112 comments

Menhaden Fish - Reedville, VA - Fish Plant
1/2 a billion pounds annually. Try to conceptualize that amount. One-half of a billion pounds every single year.

I don’t consider myself a journalist by any means, and most certainly not an investigative journalist. While I do love the investigative spirit that exposes corruption and abuse, I don’t know that I have the patience to sift through all the misinformation nor do I have the gene that keeps me from screaming “********!” in the face of the politicians and industry mouth pieces mid-sentence.
That said, after spending some time in the seemingly lovely little town of Reedville, Virginia, Melody and I started asking some questions about the foul-smelling fish plant that dominates the landscape. People around the lower Chesapeake Bay don’t seem to want to discuss the Reedville Menhaden Plant owned by Houston-based Omega Protein Corporation. They just simply shake their heads and, “They’re never gonna close that place.” Hmm.
A Little History, Shall We?

Captain Elijah W. Reed arrived in Reedville (of course not yet named that) from Maine in 1874 where Native American Indians had shown the white man how to use a small oily fish called Menhaden*, as fertilizer. Reed then developed a method of extracting large quantities of oil from the fish by rendering them by the millions. The oil was then used as a lubricant or in lighting (as whale oil was) and the leftover carcasses and bones were buried for fertilizer.
Cut to today… the Omega Protein owned fish plant is second only to Dutch Harbor, Alaska for the amount of fish processed. They employ somewhere from 250 to 350 workers depending on the season, have 8 modern day fishing boats and 8 spotter aircraft.

Here’s How It Works:
Spotter aircraft circle the Bay looking for the large schools of menhaden that swim near the surface. They cause disturbances on the water and once spotted, the planes radio the fleet and it is immediately dispersed to the area to scoop up the large schools of fish to be processed at the plant and used in everything from cat food to cosmetics to the popular Omega-3 Fish Oil many of us take for our health. It’s also added to feed for poultry and Tyson Foods is one of their biggest customers.

Here Are Some Facts About Reedville’s Omega Corporation:
Reedville is quite the idyllic town with many of it’s gorgeous homes featured in the historic registry. Omega is the largest employer in the area and is responsible for a reported $45 million dollars in annual economic benefits to the community. They employ hundreds of people and consider themselves part of the Chesapeake Bay “tradition”. And that’s where I scream ********!
Back in 2006-2007, Omega spent $770,000 to lobby congress to be able to hire foreign workers. Yep… 650 (nation wide) to be exact. Tradition? Hmmm. Not so much. They were awarded a judgement that enabled them to secure the H2B visas and did so with breakneck speed. The visas are only supposed to awarded when “…no local labor is available” and yet the unemployment numbers in Reedville at the time were 1.5% higher than the national average. Hm? Seems like some LOCAL people needed jobs to me… Oh yeah, and… Omega paid these foreign workers significantly less than their American counterparts.
Since 2002, OSHA (Occupation Safety and Health Administration) has cited Omega for a whopping 63 violations. One man was actually killed when he bled out after being caught in a machine. Very little information was ever provided to accident investigators or the family of the victim. The fine? $79,200. What did Omega pay? $50,000. I’m curious as to that seventy-nine thousand two hundred dollar assessment on a human life. Why the extra two-hundred bones? Why not an even 80k? But I digress…

In June 2013 Omega was assessed a 7.5 million dollar fine for dumping ammonia and bacteria (from ship toilets… that’s a nice way of saying raw sewage and cyanide) into Cockrell Creek which feeds directly into the bay from 2008-2010. Monty Deihl, General Manager of Omega Protein said, “It was not a good time for us here at the plant.” Huh? That is the equivalent of saying, “uh… my bad.” And I can’t stand when someone says that.

Here Are Some More Facts:
Menhaden are tiny bait fish that were once abundant up and down the Atlantic seaboard. They are filter feeders and have the ability to filter a volume of water equal to the entire Chesapeake Bay in less than one day with the potential annually to consume 25% of the nitrogen in the Bay. If you don’t know, nitrogen is not a friend to the bay. The survival of everything from bluefish to humpback whales depends on the small, oily fish. Eagles, Osprey and Pelican also need the fish to survive.
In recent years, the menhaden population has declined by… are you sitting down… 90 PERCENT! 90 F’ing PERCENT, people! You feel me? When you over fish the main fish that sustains the bay, you kill everything. When the Rockfish, Striped Bass, Bluefish and other species don’t have food, THEY DIE! Thusly THE BAY DIES!
One local fisherman/scientist did a study over a couple of years and dissected approximately 10,000 striped bass pulled from the lower Chesapeake Bay. The majority of those fish had ZERO body fat and empty stomachs. Their diet is predominantly menhaden. The striped bass are starving to death right before our very eyes because Omega Protein Corporation takes a half a billion pounds of menhaden out of the Chesapeake Bay every single year. And they have for decades.

Recently there have been heated debates about putting restrictions on this plant and they’ve all been defeated due to the serious money the lobby throws at the Richmond, VA governing officials. And that is the real issue at hand here. Do I think this place should be shut down completely? Yes. The real and inexcusable issue here is that Omega won’t even entertain the idea of placing a limit on their catch. They want unobstructed rights to every menhaden in the bay. THAT’s the crime.

Every other fishing and hunting activity has limits. You can’t kill all the deer you want. You can’t catch all the blue crab you want anymore. If everyone did that, there would be nothing left. Remember the American Buffalo? Hunted nearly to extinction? The Gray Wolf? That’s what’s quietly happening in Reedville, VA. .

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) along with the Coastal Conservation Association of Virginia, are fighting hard to implement restrictions and save what’s left. I think they deserve support. If you live or sail or spend any time on the Chesapeake Bay, you need to get involved in this story. I’m not anti-fisherman. I’m not anti-corporations (usually). But I am pro-environment and when you have spotter planes and massive ships that suck up every living thing in a huge net, you’re ******* up a place that is not yours to **** with. What could possibly stand a chance?

The upper bay hasn’t seen a menhaden in years. They can’t make it past the gauntlet that is Reedville. Melody and I saw this firsthand on our trip up the bay. South of Reedville, the surface of the water was abuzz with schools of fish. Once we passed Reedville, nothing. We saw nothing and we didn’t even realize it until we were sitting at a local watering hole here in Solomons, Maryland, a scant 40 miles north and while talking about fishing with a local, the conversation turned to the lack of big fish in the upper bay and ultimately Reedville. “Nothing survives to make up here any more,” he said. “It’s been devastating to the Bay. Rockfish are now starting to eat the blue crab and all sorts of crazy stuff is happening.”

So there… my soap box. You can read all about it via the links. Fire off some emails, donate some money, share the story or don’t do anything. If you happen to know someone in Reedville or in Richmond, feel free to send them the link to this blog. Everyone has a voice. Social media has the power to effect change.
Sailors, boaters and travelers can also voice displeasure by NOT visiting Reedville, VA. Tourist dollars speak volumes and there are other places to go. Other places to anchor and buy fuel. I’m sorry but 250 jobs (not counting the foreign workers of course) does not equate to destroying the largest estuary on the planet. There is only one Chesapeake Bay. Bypass Reedville and head for Deltaville. It’s nicer and the air doesn't make you wanna vomit.


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## croaker83 (Aug 15, 2010)

That's krazy wow


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## ORF Pete (Sep 26, 2009)

Yes, and it is a sad state of affairs when our papers write one-sided articles slanted towards taking Omega's side. Always willing to spout the line "250+ jobs" or "hundreds of jobs" and not willing to to the basic research as journalists that even bloggers are doing into how many of these are actually local jobs. Every bit of info they get from Omega should and could be countered via debate within their articles, but it never is. Never do they get counter-quotes from CCA, CBF, etc to at least provide some balance. They might interview someone from the government/VMRC, and they are often either careful with their words or choose to side with Omega (like that recent fish spill). This is one area that people on almost any political spectrum agree with if they fish the Bay: Omega's rape needs to be reigned in by taking the control of menhaden out of the hands of the legislature.


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## snookwon (May 18, 2013)

Florida had spotter planes and gill nets. But down there a petition to ban nets got enough signatures to be but on the ballet. passed by over 70%. This will never happen in VA. theirs a different form of government here. Petitions don't work in this state.


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## lil red jeep (Aug 17, 2007)

If it was only about the 250-350 jobs in Reedville, that would be a joke in just numbers. The reality of it is in the dollars Omega Protein spends annually on lobbyists and padding the pockets of the legislators in Richmond who couldn't care less whether or not our new official State fish, the striper, have enough menhaden to eat and avoid washing up on our beaches covered in lesions. Omega has the deep pockets and politicians on their side. As long as that holds, we'll never win in the menhaden debate.


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## A Reel CoolChick (Nov 3, 2011)

Here's an easy-to-follow site that shows what Omega has contributed and to whom:
Omega Campaigning

You can search by specific years.

Also, it tell you the bills of interest. For this discussion, H.R. 3840- which is "To prohibit commercial fishing of Atlantic menhaden for reduction purposes in inland, State, and Federal waters along the Atlantic coast of the United States, and for other purposes." This was sponsored by Representative H. Saxton (R-NJ), and co-sponsored by Robert E. Andrews (D-NJ) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD); and is under the "House Committee on Natural Resources" and sub-committee on Interior and Insular Affairs - Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans. Learn about the members and voting here.

I'm not a politico or anything, I just wanted to share some resources that will help the layperson (such as myself) find out WHO Omega gives money to and HOW that person votes. Just saying "people in Richmond", in my opinion, is vague.


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## dirtyhandslopez (Nov 17, 2006)

Chesapeak Bay Foundation actively lobby against Omega. It may be a wise idea to offer them support.

Nice one A real Cool Chick. Good info.


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## A Reel CoolChick (Nov 3, 2011)

Thanks for sharing that info about Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Dirtyhandslopez.

I'm doing some more digging for additional resources that will help folks figure out who to harass in their locality.


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## A Reel CoolChick (Nov 3, 2011)

Here's a great article that supports the original one: Omega Hires Foreigners.

BUT, check out THIS part: "In 2006 and 2007, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security documents, Omega Protein received visas for 695 foreign workers to fill positions at its factories and its fishing boats in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia. Although the vast majority of the workers permitted to Omega Protein under H2B visas toiled at the company’s Mississippi and Louisiana locations, *Omega’s Virginia plant received visas for 46 foreign workers in 2006 and 2007. They included 17 fishermen to “fish for menhaden fish on purse boats,” and 29 laborers to “perform manual labor in fish processing plant yard......more recent filings reflect that Omega Protein employed H2B visa workers in 2011, and applied for foreign workers again in 2012."*

Sooooo, if Reedville has an unemployment rate a hair above the national average, WHY are they giving dozens of jobs away to foreigner? THEN they lied here "...union contract protects workers in Reedville. “It’s fine if they bring someone from Mexico,” Pinkard said. “We’ll sign them up for the union.” But in Reedville, he said, “there’s always more fishermen than Omega can hire.” *Sidebar: people can complain all day about foreigners coming to the U.S. and "stealing" jobs from Americans. Why steal when companies like Omega are hiring them for cheap...end sidebar and soapbox.*


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## A Reel CoolChick (Nov 3, 2011)

Here's an even better site to track Omega's money: Omega Money


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## A Reel CoolChick (Nov 3, 2011)

My eyes are glazing over....AGAIN.


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## ORF Pete (Sep 26, 2009)

Great links. Get all the information posted you can in my opinion. Some of our VA state senators on both sides of the spectrum are trying. Here are some Democrats and Republicans to possibly look into supporting for re-election if you care about menhaden management: 

http://articles.dailypress.com/2011...den-stock-menhaden-fishery-omega-protein-corp
http://savemenhaden.wordpress.com/2...-menhaden-management-legislation-in-virginia/


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## dirtyhandslopez (Nov 17, 2006)

Sand Flea, where did your post go?


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

Omega Protein....my arch nemesis!!!! Oh dear God how I hate those pirates. That miniscule group of miniscule brained individuals is threatening the entire Atlantic fishery, and doing so legally thanks to some idiots in Richmond who get a few extra bucks for their campaign funds. Firstly, it would be nice if Virginians would throw those said idiots out of office. Secondly, I think one good investigative documentary on national television would sink those pirates in a heartbeat. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is a sizable force, and they need to be getting this word out on a national scale. One company threatens the entire Atlantic Ocean against the cries of ALL science, recreational, and commercial fisherman(excluding Reedville of course). In the age of information, it simply blows my mind that the whistle has not been blown and these pirates have not been shut down.


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

dirtyhandslopez said:


> Sand Flea, where did your post go?


It didn't go anywhere. I think you saw the duplicate thread on the Maryland board and thought my post was deleted.


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