Introduction
F
or more than a century, the residents of small, hardworking towns along the Atlantic coast have made their living just as those before them. Taught to value hard work and their family’s name, they set off from shore early each morning, like their ancestors, in search of an abundant, yet highly valued catch: the Atlantic menhaden. Passed down through coastal families for generations, the legacy of menhaden fishing is more than a treasured tradition. For the families and communities dependent on this abundant resource and the surrounding industry, it is their means of survival. And in so many of these small, rural towns, it is the only industry keeping the community economically afloat. But the landscape that has so long defined these families and communities has changed dramatically. Increasing economic pressures and regulations have reduced the menhaden fishery to a fraction of what it once was. Today, much of what remains is limited to the town of Reedville, located in Virginia’s rural Northern Neck region. There, and in several other communities dotting the Atlantic coast, residents are staring down controversial regulations, while struggling to maintain what is left of their cherished livelihood. These are their stories.
Industry in Transition THE ATLANTIC MENHADEN FISHERY was once a prolific job creator, but times have changed. Regulation, technological innovation, and economic pressures – not a decline in the menhaden population – have reduced it to a fraction of its former size. Today, there are fewer boats on the water than ever before.
Atlantic Menhaden Plants and Menhaden Vessels, 1981-2011 57
11 1981
16
37
23
9
1981
57 vessels 11 plants
2011
9 vessels 1 plant
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8
3
1986
1992
1997
1 2011
Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
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Phillip Haynie business owner Years in the Industry: 45 years
There’s no substitute for hard work.
Hometown: Reedville and Fairport, VA Family Background: Five kids – all five college graduates: Doctor of Physical Therapy, Medical Doctor, PhD., Finance Degree w/ future Masters and MBA and Bachelor of Science Degree
“THERE’S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD work,” Philip Haynie likes to say. To many in the Reedville community, Haynie is the embodiment of this expression. The great-grandson of a former slave, who became the county’s first African American landowner, Haynie has made the operation of that land, which his family still owns, a priority. But farming isn’t his only enterprise. Haynie’s business acumen has made him a pillar of the regional community and economy, and his businesses remain central to its continued development. Haynie established and runs seven different corporations, including a real estate development firm and a transporting company, all in addition to the family farm. Among
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his clients, he counts Proctor & Gamble and Nestle Purina. For much of his success, though, Haynie is grateful to another client — Omega Protein. Growing up on the farm during challenging times, Haynie wanted to help his family as much as he could. So, he went to work for Omega, working night shifts unloading fish before managing to get to school each morning. The money that he earned put him through college at Virginia State University, and set him on a course that would not only help sustain the beleaguered family farm, but create and nurture the other businesses as well. “Without the education, none of the other pieces would fall together,” he says.
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William Blackwell boat captain (youngest in fleet) A PROFICIENT STUDENT IN HIGH school, William Blackwell was offered an academic scholarship to the University of Virginia upon graduating in 2002. But he decided to forego college. “My father passed before I graduated high school,” he says, “and all I wanted to do was follow in his footsteps as a boat captain.” Blackwell started as a crewman on a fishing boat for Omega Protein, and quickly advanced through the ranks. Even though he opted not to go to college, he still spent plenty of time studying, focusing on maritime concepts. He did his homework, attended classes, and, within a few years, he became a vessel captain at 25 years old, the youngest in the company’s fleet. “At first, being the youngest and a new guy, I wanted to prove myself,” says Blackwell. “I’ve got guys on my boat who’ve been fishing longer than I’ve been breathing.” In his short time as a captain, he has indeed proven himself, and is grateful to his employer. “Omega treats me great,” he says. “They gave me my break. They gave me a sense of pride.”
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Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
Years in the Industry: 8 years Hometown: Reedville, VA Family Background: Son of a menhaden boat captain
My father passed before I graduated high school, and all I wanted to do was follow in his footsteps as a boat captain. 7
Irvin Lee Deihl, Jr. boat captain (retired) Years in the Industry: 55 years Hometown: Reedville, VA Family Background: Father and three brothers were captains
BETTER KNOWN AROUND REEDVILLE as “Bucky,” Irvin Lee Deihl, Jr. has been fishing the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean since 1954. “I had a very good career,” he says. “I made a very good living.” At 21, Deihl was hired as a commercial fisherman, and he soon became one of the youngest captains of his time. A 55-year veteran of the Reedville menhaden industry, he says it’s been, “… a backbone for this community and this Northern Neck. I mean people gain from the business all the way to Richmond and north of the Potomac in Maryland, all the way down south to Norfolk.”
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Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
I had a very good career.
Rebecca N. Butler inventory control Years in the Industry: 32 years Hometown: Edwardsville, VA Family Background: Wife of a local boat builder and a mother of two
If I hadn’t have had this job, times would have been very tough for my family.
REBECCA NEWSOME BUTLER started helping track inventory for Omega Protein during summers in the late 1970s. When offered a full-time position in 1980, she gladly accepted. As a new mother, she knew the job would help supplement the family income. And, as the wife of a self-employed boat builder, she knew the benefits that came with the job would be invaluable. “The health insurance is a big thing,” she says. “Omega pays a big portion of the insurance. If I hadn’t have had this job, times would have been very tough for my family.”
Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
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James “Jimmy” C. Kellum owner of two menhaden boats Years in the Industry: 34 years Hometown: Weems, VA Family Background: Grandfather, father, and uncles all made their living in the fishing industry A NORTHERN NECK NATIVE, Jimmy Kellum was born to be a fisherman. He’s been doing exactly that for his entire life, and it’s no surprise, given his family’s deep roots in the fishing industry. Kellum’s grandfather began the legacy when he started working in Virginia’s oyster business. Later, Kellum’s father, along with several uncles, opened an oyster shucking business of their own, and his father, in the late 1950’s, started his own shipbuilding operation. All of that family experience kept Jimmy Kellum close to the action. Even while studying economics in college, he would re-
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Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
turn home during the summers to fish. Kellum has been a fixture of the industry since he joined it in 1978. In 1983, he became partial owner of his first commercial fishing vessel, and, today, he owns two menhaden boats. Now based in Weems, Virginia, about 50 miles from Reedville, Kellum employs 20 people and uses his two fishing boats to catch menhaden, both for crab bait and for the reduction industry.
Quotas and caps would reduce our ability for a good year to offset the huge costs of keeping in business.
He worries that any policy decisions that would put a cap or quota on menhaden fishing would have adverse effects, especially given current circumstances. “With the price of fuel rising and increasing limits, there’d be big impacts. My employees live local; they spend local. And quotas and caps would reduce our ability for a good year to offset the huge costs of keeping in business. If quotas take that away, our sustainability will be greatly compromised.”
Jeff Reichle business owner JEFF REICHLE IS THE OWNER and president of Lund’s Fisheries, which has been a Cape May, New Jersey institution for almost 60 years, producing various species of fish as seafood for consumers and as bait for commercial and recreational fishing. In recent years, the menhaden bait fishery has played an increasingly important role in his business. “Our business has changed a lot in the past 38 years,” he says. “We used to be a fresh fish packer, but starting in 1976, when the Magnuson Stevens Act was put in place, we started investing in freezing capacity, exporting seafoods and concentrating on high-volume, low-value species, including menhaden.” A Cape May native, Reichle became involved in the fishing industry as a teenager because “I married a fisherman’s daughter,” he says. He was eventually able to purchase the business from the Lund family, but, with his son and daughter on board, Re-
Years in the Industry: 40 years Hometown: Cape May, NJ Family Background: Lund’s Fisheries remains a family business – his son and daughter both work with him
ichle has kept the enterprise a family business. Lund’s is an important job source and provides needed services to members of the Cape May community, where it is considered an integral aspect of the town’s landscape. But now Reichle, who also serves as the president of the Garden State Seafood Association, worries that management policy decisions in the menhaden fishery could have dire consequences for his family and community. “In fisheries management, no one looks at the cumulative effect of management on different species and what that does to companies like ours,” he says. “Our processing plant is very dependent on menhaden, which is a major part of our summer business and keeps 150 to 200 people employed from May to October.”
Lund’s is an important job source and provides needed services to the community. Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
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James Gordon plant production worker Years in the Industry: 50 years Hometown: Ditchley, VA Family Background: Father of six, including one son currently employed at Omega’s Reedville plant A NORTHERN NECK NATIVE and seasoned plant maintenance expert, James Gordon has been working at Omega Protein’s Reedville plant for 44 years. Now, at 74 years old, Gordon looks back at what his career has enabled him to do throughout his lifetime. “I raised my kids, built my home,” he says. “Raised six head of kids; sent two of them to college.” The prospect of the plant’s closing is unfathomable to Gordon. “It would really hurt my family. It would hurt a whole lot of families,” he says. “It would hurt the whole Northern Neck. Everybody depends on Omega Protein.”
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Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
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Frederick Ray Rogers and Frederick boat captain (retired) Years in the Industry: 66 years Hometown: Hacksneck, VA Role: Boat Captain (retired) and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission member (retired), net repair foreman FREDERICK RAY ROGERS, JR. was still a teenager as World War II drew to a close, but he recalls with vivid clarity his experiences as a volunteer with the U.S. Coast Guard in Delaware. Later, he worked many of the same waters that he once patrolled, only this time as a menhaden fisherman. A beneficiary of the G.I. Bill, Rogers returned to his roots in the commercial fishing industry after college. “I still wanted to go back on the water,� he says. Rogers credits Omega Protein, his employer of 22 years, from 1971 to 1993, with providing him an ample salary and benefits. Over the course of several decades, Rogers became widely respected in the industry, so much so that he was appointed and served for seven years as a Commissioner on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
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Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
I still wanted to go back on the water.
Rogers III, father and son boat owner and menhaden fisherman Years in the Industry: 40 years Hometown: Reedville, VA
Family Background: Grandfather, father, brother, and many uncles and cousins all worked or still work in the menhaden fishery
LIKE SO MANY NATIVES OF REEDVILLE, Virginia, fishing is second nature for Frederick Rogers III, a self-employed fisherman who sells menhaden as bait. A fifth-generation fisherman, Rogers was preceded by his grandfather, who worked as a bait fisherman in the early 1900s, his father, who also made his living in the menhaden bait fishery, and a slew of uncles and other relatives who have made a life for themselves as menhaden boat captains. Rogers recalls his junior and senior years in high school, waking at 4:30 am to help his uncle set pound net traps before going off to school. After a few years in college, he decided to stick with what he loved – menhaden fishing. So, in 1978, he founded his own successful pound-net trapping business, at times selling 100 percent of his fish for bait. Today, he owns one boat, the Hush Puppy, and co-owns another. He fears that if the menhaden reduction facility in Reedville closed, the community would become a ghost town. “If I can’t make money from my boats, I’m out of business,” he says.
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Melvin Walters menhaden fisherman Years in the Industry: Over 40 Hometown: Heathsville, VA Family Background: Father, three brothers, and cousins all worked as fishermen
AT JUST 14 YEARS OLD, Melvin Walters was first introduced to Reedville, Virginia’s menhaden fishing industry when his father took him to help paint boats. Later, he became a fisherman himself, working under his father’s supervision. “I just fell in love with fishing,” he says. This year marks his 46th year in the industry, the longest continuous tenure of any fisherman at the Reedville reduction plant.
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Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
I just fell in love with fishing.
Jeff Kaelin government relations Years in the Industry: 10 years Hometown: Cape May, NJ Role: Government Relations for Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, NJ
FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS, JEFF KAELIN has specialized in government relations for Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, New Jersey, a business that harvests various species of fish as seafood for consumers and as bait for the commercial and recreational fishing industries. The job is the culmination of an impressive career. “I’ve dedicated my entire professional life to commercial fishing and advocating for commercial fishing as people who are interested in the sustainability of the stocks,” he says. The first person in his family to go to sea, Kaelin served in the Coast Guard during the Vietnam War before a ten-year stint as a commercial fisherman. In more recent years, he worked in the Maine Legislature, serving on the state’s Marine Resources Commission.
A sustainable outcome not just for ourselves and our families but for people who depend on them
As an experienced leader on the governmental side of fisheries, Kaelin wants to ensure the future sustainability of the Atlantic menhaden, both for the species itself and the communities whose survival depend on it. “As an advisor on various management councils, it’s not just about us, it’s a commitment to the process – for a sustainable outcome not just for ourselves and our families but for people who depend on them … we’re in it for the long haul.”
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Thomas Somers boat captain (retired) A NORTHERN NECK NATIVE, Thomas Somers enjoyed a successful commercial fishing career that has spanned nearly four decades. “It was a good way to make a living around here,” he says. “You could make a good living, better than average. I was able to build a house, I married, had two children.”
Years in the Industry: Over 40 Hometown: Foxwells, VA Family Background: Father of a menhaden fisherman
It was a good way to make a living around here.
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Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
Carol Curry boat captain (retired) Years in the Industry: 55 years Hometown: Northumberland County, VA Family Background: One of 19 children
CARROLL CURRY GREW UP IN Northumberland County, near Kilmarnock, as one of 19 children. He was born into poverty, but he didn’t have to go far to improve his economic situation. Thanks to a strong work ethic and the region’s abundant fishing resources, Curry progressed within the local commercial fishing industry. Starting in 1957 as a common laborer, he rose through the ranks over the years, ultimately becoming captain of a fishing vessel. With nearly 50 years of fishing under his belt, Curry sees no other way he could have succeeded as he did. “From my experience, living around here, you could make more money fishing than anything else,” he says. “No way I could have made what I made on the land.” Curry became a boat captain in the late 1950s, an exceptional accomplishment for an African American prior to the Civil Rights movement. He paved a path for later generations, and his son followed in his footsteps. “My son had it in his blood,” he says. “He came home from college and said, ‘Dad, I want to take some time off, and he fished.”
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Susan Haynie administrative assistant Years in the Industry: 36 years Hometown: Heathsville, VA Family Background: Father, husband, and son all worked in the menhaden industry
IN 1976, AS A NEW MOTHER, Susan Haynie sought and found employment at Omega Protein. She knew that Omega was an excellent employer. Her father had been a fishing boat captain for Omega, her husband also worked there, and her new son would eventually work for the company as well. In fact, even after her son was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, Omega kept him on the payroll for several years, making sure that he had work until his condition became too inhibiting. “That really touched my heart,” she says. “They allowed him to work for nine years [after his diagnosis] … They were so good.”
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Kenneth Waller net mender Years in the Industry: 26 years Hometown: Lancaster, VA Family Background: Used industry earnings to pay for his wife’s college education
NET MENDING IS AN AGE-OLD CRAFT that predates the technological innovations of modern times. It is an intricate and detailed skill that few today have mastered. Kenneth Waller explains, “This is like an art,” he says. “There’s not too many people who know how to do it.” For decades, Waller has been mending net for the benefit of the local menhaden industry. His career with Omega Protein began in 1985. It enabled him to put his wife through college while enjoying a familial work environment that is conducive to his craft. “We really enjoy our jobs,” he says. “It’s like a family; we look forward to coming here. We’ve all got children and we’ve all got different problems, but we can all talk to each other and encourage one another.”
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Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
This is like an art. There’s not too many people who know how to do it.
Kathryn Robinson net mender Years in the Industry: 16 years Hometown: Heathsville, VA
KATHRYN ROBINSON’S PROFESSIONAL skill is her safety net. As a net mender for Omega Protein, she says she is able to stay on track with her bills; that she’s been able to improve her credit rating. “I’m never broke,” she says. She also knows that her employer’s presence is a safety net for the whole region. “Once this shuts down,” she says, “that shuts down everything. It would be devastating.”
Once this shuts down, that shuts down everything.
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John and Monty Deihl, brothers spotter pilot JOHN DEIHL’S GREAT-GRANDFATHER was a menhaden fishing boat captain, and it’s no surprise that fishing runs in the family. At 12 years old, Deihl himself was helping his father fish commercially. But he decided to take a different approach to fishing when he obtained his pilot’s license in 1991. That’s when Deihl became an airborne spotter pilot for the menhaden fishery. “It’s a completely different perspective,” he says. “Menhaden aren’t hard to see, but they’re sometimes hard to find. They school up so tightly that they
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make up a pigment in the water. After you’ve done it a while, you can tell the size, the density.” Not only does Deihl love his work; he loves the fact that he’s been able to remain close to home. “A lot of my friends went off to college and never came back,” he says. “The income has allowed me to live where I want to live. It’s given me a lifestyle that I wouldn’t have been able to achieve without going to college, getting a master’s degree and getting a professional desk job somewhere.”
Years in the Industry: 20 years Hometown: Reedville, VA Family Background: Great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and three uncles were all menhaden boat captains
director of fishing operations Years in the Industry: 30 years Hometown: Reedville, VA Family Background: Great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and three uncles were all menhaden boat captains; 21-year old son is a 5th generation fisherman; father-in-law has worked as a menhaden vessel engineer for 50 years
WITH VIVID CLARITY, Monty Deihl recalls his first experiences on a menhaden fishing boat. “I’ve been going on these boats since I was old enough to walk – with my father when he was a captain,” he recounts. Standing beside his father, he gazed upwards at the boat’s towering mast, and dreamt of captaining his own menhaden boat one day. At that age, Deihl was too young to reach even the first rung on the giant post, let alone climb it himself. So, his father would hoist him into his arms, and, together, they climbed the mast. Since then, Deihl’s accomplishments and civic involvement have made him a household name in his community. A Reedville, Virginia native, he began working on men-
haden boats during summers throughout college. Then, upon graduating, he accepted a commission in the United States Air Force. Following 20 years of service and a brief stint with a major defense contractor, he returned to the menhaden fishery in 2009 - this time as the General Manager of Omega Protein’s Reedville reduction facility. Today, as Omega’s Director of Fishing Operations, Deihl understands exactly how much is at stake in the face of harsh regulation. “Reedville is one of the last bastions of industry here…where people can find a good job with good healthcare and benefits and stability.” Were the facility in his hometown to close, he worries that job opportunities would vanish with it.
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Menhaden Company Closures Menhaden reduction facilities once dotted the Atlantic coastline from Maine to Florida, but industry regulation, local government land use policies, and tough economic times have taken their toll. Nowadays, Reedville, Virginia’s reduction plant is the only remaining facility along the entire Atlantic coast.
Maine Marine Products Portland, ME Closed: 1984
Connor Bros. Rockland, ME Closed: 1993
J. Howard Smith Port Monmouth, NJ Closed: 1981
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Sea and Sound Processing Co Reedville, VA Closed: 1986
Sea Pro, Inc Reedville, VA Closed: 1988
AMPRO Reedville, VA Closed: 1997
Standard Products Co Southport, NC Closed: 1983
Standard Products Co Beaufort, NC Closed: 1984
Beaufort Fisheries Beaufort, NC Closed: 2004
Mayport Fisheries Mayport, FL Closed: 1982
Nassau Oil and Fertilizer Co Fernandina Beach, FL Closed: 1987
Faces of the Menhaden Fishery
Š 2012 Saving Seafood, Inc. Design: Kit Oliynyk. Cover photo: William Vann