photo: OMEGA/COOKE PLANT IN REEDVILLE, va
Menhaden (aka Bunker, Pogy)are, without a doubt, the single most important fish in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. These oily little filter feeders swim in schools so large that they can be seen by aircraft. The primary job of this species is to convert plankton and algae into a package that predators can easily eat And the predators are numerous, including birds, striped bass, tuna, sharks, seals,dolphins and whales. This is where the phrase “The most important fish in the sea” originates. Without abundant menhaden along our coastlines, the ocean wildlife will suffer.
Few people have ever heard of a menhaden, when in fact the menhaden reduction fishery is one of the largest commercial fisheries in North America. Cooke USA (operating as Omega Protein Inc., which it recently purchased for a reported $500 million) catches billions of these fish per year which they grind up into fish meal and fish oil, much of which is converted to feed for feed their multi-billion dollar, industrial open pen salmon feedlot business.
In recent years, Cooke has expanded from an Atlantic Canadian operation to one with massive salmon feedlots in Maine, Washington, Chile and Scotland, as well as wild fish operations in the Eastern USA.
Omega Protein/Cooke admits to over-fishing the Atlantic States Fisheries Commission quota of 51,000 metric tonnes by 72%, with a 2019 harvest of 87,216 metric tons.
Cooke has a history of flouting the law elsewhere in its fishery operations,
with CEO Glenn Cooke and two senior officials pleading guilty in 2012 to illegally dumping gallons of the pesticide cypermethrin into the Bay of Fundy off the coast of New Brunswick, endangering nearby lobster catches. The plea allowed Cooke executives to avoid jail terms, but resulted in a $500,000 fine.
PHOTO: CEO GLENN COOKE
Omega/Cooke USA Inc, spends a fortune annually on political influence, attorney fees and advertising to bolster harvests and increase profits.
According to USA based Menhaden Defenders, for the past 30 + years, they have aggressively attacked any new conservation or ecosystem-based management regulations.
Atlantic menhaden stocks have declined dramatically over the past 60 years due to sustained industrialized fishing practices. The commercial menhaden fishery is made up of two sectors, a reduction fishery (grinding bunker up for fish meal and fish oil) that comprises approximately 80 percent of landings, and a bait fishery that harvests the remaining 20 percent.
A planned Cooke expansion of an industrial feedlot operation in Liverpool, Nova Scotia is being met with substantial opposition by residents there and by Protect Liverpool Bay community group.
Aquaculture DIGEST 