Pogy boats dumped 850,000 fish off Louisiana coast

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Pogy boats dumped 850,000 fish off Louisiana coast, spurring new calls for fishing limits

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Three massive fish spills that coated waves and beaches off the southwest coast of Louisiana last week has renewed calls for tighter restrictions on the menhaden industry.

Two menhaden fishing companies dumped an estimated 850,000 fish in the waters off Cameron Parish during three incidents over four days, the companies confirmed on Wednesday. The fish formed rotting rafts that either floated into deeper water or washed up by the thousands near Holly Beach, one of the few communities in the sparely-populated parish. Amid the dead menhaden, also called pogy, were hundreds of redfish, a species prized by recreational fishers but often snagged as bycatch in massive menhaden nets, potentially contributing to sharp redfish population declines in recent years.

“The menhaden industry likes to talk about how rare these incidents are and how unfortunate they are, but they are simply not rare,” said Chris Macaluso, marine fisheries director for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “And to see hundreds of redfish dead on the beach, you can’t help but be concerned.”

The state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is investigating the incidents. Omega Protein, one of the companies, was cited for failing to report one of the spills within two hours. Wildlife and Fisheries will set Omega's penalty amount once it determines the value of the dead fish. Officials note the violation was for failing to report "the wasting of fish," and not the wasting of fish itself. The two companies say they complied with all other state laws, including a new one that requires them to try to clean up their dead fish.

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It’s unclear how many fish were dead, but the netting process usually takes several minutes, killing most fish before they’re brought on-board the large ‘mother’ ships employed by the industry.

The spills were strikingly similar to an incident in the same area and same time last year. During the second week of September 2022, an Omega boat was overwhelmed by an unexpectedly big catch and had to cut its large net, dumping nearly 1 million menhaden, most of them dead, near Holly Beach.

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