Fish not well known, but is common in many products

By COLIN MURPHEY
A species of fish many in the region may never have heard of plays a vital role in the economy of St. Mary Parish and other coastal communities and those that are involved in harvesting the fish known as menhaden gathered last week to ensure the season would proceed as safely as possible.
According to Ken Perry, owner and president of the Perry Flying Center in Patterson, spotter pilots and representatives from Homeland Security, U.S. Customs as well as aviation officials and air traffic controllers gathered last week to go over safety and communication issues to make sure everyone involved with the menhaden harvest are as coordinated as possible.
And while menhaden will most likely never show up on the dinner table as it is not considered a desirable food source, the fish is most likely already in the average St. Mary Parish home in other forms. Menhaden, also known as mossbunker or just bunker, is used in cosmetics, fertilizer, fish oil products and animal feed. They are also used as bait for other seafood products.
Perry said, while the menhaden species and harvest doesn’t garner as much attention as other commercial Louisiana fishing operations, the market for menhaden products makes the industry a vital part of the parish economy.
“This industry has been around for about 60 years,” Perry said. “What they do is spot schools of them (menhaden) and they direct the boats to the fish. They use them for all kinds of stuff. What they mainly use them for these days is omega-3 fish oil tablets. They also use them in cat food and the fish meal is sold overseas.”
Perry said the meeting held last week at the flying center was primarily about safety issues. With so many aircraft in the air and with pilots frequently looking down at the water for schools of menhaden, making sure everyone is aware of their surroundings is paramount to ensuring a safe fishing season.
“We’ve been hosting this meeting for years now,” Perry said. “It’s basically a safety meeting. There are multiple boats. Each aircraft is assigned a boat or two. If they are over a good area of fish, they have an airplane at 500 (feet), an airplane at a thousand, an airplane at 1,500 all the way up to 5,000 if the weather is good. They will fly two shifts a day for eight hours a shift.”
Perry said one of the main priorities of the meeting and during the fishing operations was to make sure everyone involved was aware of communication protocols. He said making sure everyone from air traffic controllers to pilots to boat captains were aware of radio procedures was critical to maintaining safe commercial fishing.
“We want to make sure everyone knows the frequencies and altitudes on any given day,” Perry said. “Sometimes the frequencies change and there are always new guys flying down here. There are a lot of aircraft out there. When everyone leaves here (after the meeting) everyone has a good feel for each other and they know who to talk to and what the rules are and where the no-fly-zones are. It’s a congested environment and they need to know what everyone is doing.”
Perry said the menhaden harvest, while not widely known or recognized as a local economic engine, is an important element of the local economy especially in a time of downturn in the energy sector.
“It’s a good thing for the airport and it’s a good thing for the economy,” Perry said. “It’s a good thing for the public to understand that it’s a benefit for the economy and what these guys do is a benefit for the national economy as well. It’s an important industry that is not very well known in the area. Many people don’t really know that this is around.”