Reedville Va.

[Cas1234]

Omega's harvest of Menhaden has made Reedville the third largest fishing port in America by tonnage of fish landed. Omega grinds Menhaden into fishmeal for poultry and pig feed.

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[Woody Meristem]

For some reason that doesn't look like a fish cannery or whatever name a fish grinding plant would be called. Nice photo of a quaint shoreline cottage.

 

[Cas1234]

For some reason that doesn't look like a fish cannery or whatever name a fish grinding plant would be called. Nice photo of a quaint shoreline cottage.

lol, just giving you a little background of the town. Look up Reedville, millionaire row, those are the pictures I need to capture. Too many tourist running around killing the shots.

 

[jmchaffie]

35 years ago, we used to dock in Reidsville on our fall sailing trip around the Chesapeake. When the plant were rendering Menhaden, the stench from that foul smoke was incredibly nasty.

 

[Cas1234]

LOL and the fisherman there say that is the smell of MONEY....We have a house in Reedville and over the years the Gov made the factory put scrubbers on their stacks and it is not as bad as it was in the 70's. We are known as come here's when we are down there, even though we have been there since 1975. Unless you came on the May Flower you will always be known as a come here. Some years ago there was an article in the local paper about a woman that moved to Reedville at the turn of the Century and was the pillar of the community. The closing of the article was her obituary and it read " even though she was a come here, she will be sorely missed " So there is NO chance I will ever be acknowledged as a local....forever more a COME HERE

 

[Cas1234]

For some reason that doesn't look like a fish cannery or whatever name a fish grinding plant would be called. Nice photo of a quaint shoreline cottage.

I was back in Reedville over the 4th and figured I would post past and present pictures of the fishing vessels used in Menhaden fishing.

This picture was taken in late 70's, Cockrell Creek was lined with these old wooden Menhaden fishing vessels from the turn of the Century. Virginia's DNR cleaned out these old wrecks by the end of the 70's. I took this picture of a picture I had hanging on my wall, not the best quality however good enough to give an idea of vessels of the past.

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After WWII military transport and cargo vessels became part of the Omega Protein fishing fleet and are still being used today. Taken this weekend using a Nikon coolpix 12.2 mp, not going to risk my D7500 out in the water

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In the old days the purse boat would be launched when a scout in the crows nest would spot the fish and then direct the purse boat to encircle the fish. Today Omega uses spotter pilots that head out the day before to scout for Menhaden. They currently operate approx. 6 airplanes and fly as far as NY and Georgia hunting for schools of fish. This save time and money, the spotter pilot are also used to guide the purse boat. With technology not many Menhaden miss the net. Here is one of their planes returning from a scouting hunt.

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The purse boats are slid off the back when the fish are spotted

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Propeller guards to keep the net from being wrapped up around the props

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[MalcolmP]

Very interesting. Good pic’s and information. Along the coast of Maine they harvest Alewife on a smaller scale for bait for lobster traps. Thanks for sharing.