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[Bunjov AT aol.com]

Never heard of these!
Could they be known by another name?
Sandy
Mid-Mojave (where there are few fish)
 
 
  
____________________________________
 From: info AT culturechange.org
To: culturechange AT lists.mutualaid.org
Sent:  2/11/2009 4:32:55 P.M. Pacific Standard Time
Subj: Peak Menhaden by Alice  Friedemann 


Peak Menhaden
by Alice Friedemann

Read the  complete article at: http://culturechange.org/go.html?322

Very few  people have heard of menhaden, but they're the most important
fish in the  Atlantic and gulf waters, and they're almost gone. I'd never
heard of  menhaden until my husband, who grew up in Florida,  mentioned
them.

"When we were swimming and the menhaden came through  -- they looked like
the shadow of a large, approaching cloud -- the water  boiled with fish,
and everyone got out as fast as they could because there  were sharks
slashing through them, biting at anything that moved," he told  me.

In The Most Important Fish in the Sea. Menhaden and America, Island  Press
2007, H. Bruce Franklin describes menhaden schools as acting like a  single
organism: "flashes of silver with flips of forked tails and  splashes,
whirling swiftly … in moves more dazzling than those of a modern  dancer,
as they seek escape from hordes of bluefish below and gulls...  above... a
breathtaking experience".

...

>From the 1860's  to today, the weight of menhaden harvested is more than
the combined weight  of all other commercial fish -- more than all the
salmon, cod, tuna,  halibut, herring, swordfish, flounder, snapper,
anchovies, mackerel, and so  on.

State by state, the menhaden industry wiped out menhaden and  went
bankrupt, but didn't die out completely, because the U.S. government  spent
taxpayer money to keep the industry going in states where menhaden  still
existed. There was no reason to do this -- menhaden oil, animal feed,  and
fertilizer had been replaced with much cheaper petroleum and  soybean
substitutes. The place menhaden inhabit in the ocean's food  chain,
however, is irreplaceable.

Now one company, Omega Protein,  catches the majority of menhaden, with 32
spotter planes directing a fleet  of 61 ships. Their spotting planes and
vessels can find and catch the few  remaining schools, since they swim
close to the surface. They make poultry  feed and fishmeal for farmed
salmon out the menhaden, products that can be  made more cheaply from
plants.

...
Read the complete article at:  http://culturechange.org/go.html?322

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