Pogy fish big business in parish

The pogy fish seems like such a small fish when you compare it to the other species of fish normally sought after by sport fishermen.

By all aspects, the pogy fish is small. It generally grows in the one-half to three-quarter pound size, and has a typical life-span of about three years, according to Rick Schillaci, public affairs coordinator for Omega Protein Corporation. He was the guest speaker this week at the Rotary Club meeting held at the Abbeville Country Club. His presentation was well-accepted for the positive impacts the fishing industry has on the local economy, but Schillaci also had his detractors among the sport fishermen attending the Rotary meeting.

Since the Omega fish plant was built in Abbeville in 1965, it has had its share of concerns from the sport fishermen about the potential problems of over-fishing the waters of the Gulf Coast, and, in particular, not being careful enough about catching sport fish and other species in their nets.

The Rotary presentation given by Schillaci showed the direction of Omega Protein and, also, the positive impact the company has on the local economy.

Omega operates 10 boats out of its office south of Abbeville during the pogy fishing season from the third Monday in April until November 1st. The cooking plant part of their business operates year-round. Together, the plant and the fishing operation provide a payroll of almost $7 million annually, according to plant manager Al Vidrine.

Founded in 1913, Omega employs almost 1,100 people between their special animal feeds, aquaculture and functional foods lines. They are the world’s largest producer of fish oil. One of the main products produced from the pogy fish is the Omega 3 compound, which is the good oil needed for a healthy heart lifestyle.

Locally known as a pogy, the original name is Menhaden. The name comes from the Algonquian Indian tribe and is from the herring family. The species grows abundantly along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions and is primarily used for the production of oil, fertilizer and animal baits or food. Other names associated with the fish are bunker, and shad.

Schillaci said that the fish reproduces quickly and doesn’t have a very long life-span. When the fish are brought in to the plant, the inspection process generally shows a 20 percent range of one-year-old, 70 percent are two year old fish and a slim margin finish out the remaining three year old fish, with an occasional four-year-old fish. The report also shows that less than 0.1 percent of the catch are unintended.

“Of the millions of eggs laid by the fish, only a small number will actually grow to become a fish. The majority of the eggs or small fish are eaten by shrimp or other fish and predators,” said Schillaci.

He described the pogy fish as a typical schooling type of fish.

“We’ll have spotter planes out to tell the boat captains where to go for the best catch and then we have a method of fishing to get the biggest haul possible,” he added.

“The natural predators are generally feeding on the outside bands of the school, so our net boats go into the heart of the school. The nets we use have small 1 5/8 inch openings to catch the pogy, so they are designed to slough off the bigger fish and other things caught in the nets. The process in the hold also works to slough off the larger fish so they don’t even go into the hold. Our nets and processing equipment is actually designed for the smaller pogy fish and the larger species actually do more damage to the nets and equipment than anything else.,” commented Schillaci.

The fishing industry is fairly regulated between all the state and federal agencies, according to Schillaci.

“Our boats get boarded and our plant gets inspected to make sure that we’re in compliance. We only fish Sunday night through Friday so that we don’t compete with the weekend sport fisherman. We don’t want to catch game fish.”

Aquaculture is a growing business to contend with, according to Schillaci. “Farms are being set up offshore in China, Europe and in Asia to use the seas for growing areas for Catfish, Tilapia and pogy. A meeting was held in Mississippi just last week to consider the same operations for the United States, and as the population grows, it will probably become operational here as well.”

Originally known as the Zapata Corporation, the company was once owned by former President George H. Walker Bush. The company has gone through a couple of name changes to the current Omega Protein.

In his estimation of the Abbeville plant, Schillaci said “the Abbeville expenditures for 2008 were near $30 million. The pogy industry is one of the most scientifically studied areas of the fishing industries by numerous state, federal and independent (school) agencies. It’s in our best interest not to over-fish our harvest each year so that we continue to have a product to support our business each year. We have to be responsible to our stock holders in that regard as well.”

When the fish reach the plant, manager Al Vidrine said that “nothing gets wasted. All of the parts of the fish will be processed somehow as we separate the body for production and the liquids for separation to the oils.”