Today's Times op-ed on menhaden and the insane Omega-3 fish oil industry is pretty amazing. The practitioner of mass overfishing of the algae-chugging fish called menhaden is Omega Protein, a 40-boat company out of Houston that fishes in North Carolina and Virginia and further ashore, and that processes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia. Their board of directors is fascinating as well, including as it does an all-male cast of oil industry execs, insurance brokers, the former VP of Equus Capital Management and the "professor of Swine Nutrition at the University of Missouri." Also, you are probably spreading menhaden on your lips, ladies.
"cast of oil" gave me 'castor oil' SO THANKS!
From the corporate 'Code of Business Conduct and Ethics,' Jan. 2007, Section 8:
"We must seek to balance our business interests with initiatives to protect our land, water
and air. In fact, the future of our business closely depends upon our ability to do so. This
recognition forms the basis of our commitment to sound environmental principles.
"Omega Protein supports programs and practices ensuring that its operations are
conducted in an environmentally sound manner. We communicate and reinforce
accountability for environmental stewardship throughout the Company. We perform our
business in strict adherence to our guidelines and all applicable laws and regulations
governing environmental protection and safety."
It's an important topic, but I resent the aw-shucks tone it's written in. Can anyone behave as an expert these days, including someone who is researching a book on seafood and writing in the pages of the NYT? It's that culture of ignorance that Balk (or Choire? I forget) noted with Sarah Palin as its demigod.
Um, actually the muddy color of the water off Long Island sound is from so much spray-tan being released into the water.
Apparently one-third of the caught fish are fed to pigs. I did not know that! Hence the Professor of Swine Nutrition, whose full title probably is, Professor of How to Feed Swine the Cheapest Possible Stuff That Will Make Them the Fattest the Fastest. Which makes me wonder why they don't feed McDonald's hamburgers to pigs.
'when did I eat corn?'
Mad pig disease. Or was that swine flu?
That op-ed was hugely misleading, unless Greenberg has some sources I don’t know about and he’s not citing.
1. The menhaden purse-seine fishery in the US has been certified as “sustainable†by Friends of the Sea. While there are problems with their certification process, you’d think he’d bring this up.
2. Menhaden aren’t considered even close to over-fished by NMFS. Both catches and effort (how hard you try to catch fish) have been going down overall since the 1980s. Again, you can argue with the data, but he doesn’t even bring it up.
3. Thirteen of fifteen Atlantic states haven’t “banned Omega Protein’s boats from their waters.†They’ve banned purse seining. The op-ed gives the impression Omega Protein is specifically targeted when it’s a general prohibition on the gear.
4. He also writes that declines in menhaden populations are directly responsible for muddy water and dead zones. This isn’t true. Loss of filter feeders are part of the problem, including loss of other filter feeders like oysters and herring. The largest part of the problem lies with increased pollution, especially from fertilizers and sewage.
5. I’d have to check some numbers, but I doubt menhaden are the major fish species used in Omega-3 supplements or even fish oil. He uses the wiggle-words “considerable portion.†By far, the largest producer of fish oil is Peru from their anchovetta industry. They catch about 25 times as much fish as the menhaden industry for fish oil production.
Sorry for the situational Aspergers, this is part of what I do for a living. I’m not an expert on menhaden, so it’s possible I’m missing info Greenberg knows about, but this whole article struck as full of overstatements, straw men and unaddressed points, which takes away credibility from others working on sustainable fisheries.
+1 More servicey than Aspergery.
I appreciate the need for accuracy on this kind of report (the kerfluffal about climate change science), but what I take from Greenburg is the "privatization" of natural resources. Capitalism is being modified away from the manifest destiny (the continent there for our taking) and lassez faire doctrines ( the Belgiums in the Congo). We must learn how to take advantage of technology, machines, chemicals, and energy in a way that does not destroy the environment nor price the have nots out. A conservation policy that wastes resources or starves out the locals won't work. I admit to being old and having had a lot. Regardless I am more than happy with the compromises I make to avoid the over consumption that plagues the U.S. and negatively affects my health and spirit. The 1000th monkey tale is being modified into a complex organism, society, that has to adjust many different needs, wants and values. Now that I know to take flax over fish oil, why not? I suspect as a plant, flax as a product will have a smaller carbon foot print than fish oil. And if the negatives of the Houston fish product company are for real, environmental capitalism can and should take them out. Happy Holidays and New Year.