Lewes once had country’s largest menhaden operation

A recent editorial in the Baltimore Sun has prompted a response by Ben Landry, vice president of public affairs for Ocean Fleet Services, the parent company of Ocean Harvesters. The editorial urged a moratorium on all menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. According to Landry, there was no scientific reason for such action, and all facts presented in the editorial were simply rehashed talking points from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

First of all, the only commonwealth that allows menhaden boats to operate in its waters is the Commonwealth of Virginia. While I have not read the editorial, I must assume the editorial board called for a federal moratorium to stop Virginia from fishing for menhaden. I must remind them that the last time Virginia recognized a federal authority, the capital was in Richmond.

Landry goes on to state that the current stock status findings from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission explicitly state that Atlantic menhaden are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The Marine Stewardship Council has certified Atlantic menhaden as sustainable. 

You may have heard that osprey chicks are dying due to a lack of menhaden. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, osprey reproduction challenges are occurring in many places around the country, not just in the Chesapeake area and not tied to one prey species.

The next problem the editorial blames on a lack of menhaden is the poor young-of-the-year striped bass results for the past seven years. Of course, we all know those tiny young-of-the-year stripers are much too small to even think of eating menhaden. In the reply to the editorial, Landry tries to blame recreational overfishing, not a lack of menhaden, for the poor YOY results. He claims that the ASMFC has found that, until very recently, the recreational fishery overharvested striped bass, and still the stock remains overfished. I consider myself up to date on everything put out by the ASMFC, and I have never seen or heard of any of this data.

Finally, Landry brings up the devastating effects the moratorium would have on the Northern Neck of Virginia. There would be hundreds of good-paying union jobs lost at the Omega Protein plant, on the fleet of menhaden boats and all the businesses they support. 

There was a time when Lewes was the center of menhaden fishing along the East Coast. 

Beginning in 1883, the Luce Brothers and the S. S. Brown Company began a menhaden business with the first fleet of boats and the first processing plant in Lewes.

Then in 1938, Consolidated Fisheries Company of Lewes became the largest menhaden operation in the country. Under the direction of longtime Lewes Mayor Otis Smith, the company grew to 25 menhaden ships and 650 crew members. Then there were the employees who worked in the processing plant.

While this was all good for the people who worked there, there was a downside. In the 1950s, the smell and the flies that invaded Lewes made it less than a desirable location for vacations.

I remember in the late 1950s going up there from Rehoboth for a bonfire party. While the flies were down to a manageable level after dark, the smell lingered still.

Unfortunately, the menhaden had a serious drop in their population, and by the mid-1960s the number of fish failed to support the boats or the processing factory. After both closed, the large smokestack remained for awhile and was a good navigation aid before we all had GPS.

Now the land where the factory stood is either a part of Cape Henlopen State Park or a housing development.

Lewes has become quite the place to live and enjoy the beach lifestyle. I am sure most of the new residents have no idea the town was once the largest fish-landing port in the United States.

Get outside 

We are going to have some mild weather this weekend. If you have the chance, get outside. There won’t be much fishing, but a nice walk in one of our local state parks with the family would be good.

I am going to be outside all weekend. The blizzard put down several big trees in my backyard, and during the previous snowstorm, the snowplow driver clipped off my mailbox.

My sons, Ric and Roger, will be here this weekend to help me do what we can with the downed trees and put up my new mailbox. The big trees will have to wait, I have no idea how long, until the tree people we called can get to it.

Ain’t life grand!