I am going to tell you, what I saw today was extremely upsetting to me!

I was on the American Princess Cruises whale and dolphin watch today, Thursday, August 30^th. We had a great day and sighted 11-13 humpbacks, possibly a Minke whale, 20 dolphins and a few sharks. That’s all great but it could be the end of seeing the whales and dolphins in our waters! The day I have been dreading is here! The large Omega Protein factory purse seine net ships are taking our local Bunker fish, aka Menhaden, by the millions!!!!

Why is this happening and how is this happening? A few bills failed to pass in the NYS Assembly that protect our precious Menhaden AKA Bunker fish.  "Assembly Bill A10506A" would have banned industrial purse seining in New York Waters. Now, any commercial fishing vessel who buys a permit can come into our waters and take our menhaden fish legally!

Today, a state-of-the-art menhaden killing machine called the "Rappahannock" cleared out a large section of the ocean of menhaden right in front of us! The Rappahannock drove the whales inshore looking for food, this is total BS!!! It’s a wakeup call to all NYers who love the ocean, because the Rappahannock and ships like this are going to clear out ALL the menhaden if we let them! They did in the Chesapeake Bay; they destroyed that bay now they are up here doing the same to this area! The whales, dolphins, bass, blues, sharks and everything else that eats them will be gone. Fisherman should be up in arms; almost all the fish they catch eat menhaden! When the menhaden is gone the fish are gone! 

There were a few private “ Menhaden friendly” boats around the processing ship today and reported back to us this information with photos. I was told a Minke whale and a pod of dolphins were feet from the Purse Seine net feeding. The bycatch was seen and striped bass and other fish were being netted and kept. Also, and here is what is not cool, dolphins were seen and caught in the purse seine nets! I don’t know what they did with the dolphins or if the dolphins are even safe or alive? So now we need to worry about them killing or hurting our whales and dolphins- ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

These photos of the operation were sent from a friend who was out watching this happen in NY waters. I was told the workers on the boat didn’t like that pictures were taken of them. The Rappahannock, while fishing, had their automatic identification system (AIS) OFF! AIS is an automatic tracking system used for collision avoidance on ships and by vessel traffic services- it says where, who, and what the boat is. I just checked the Rappahannock’s AIS and at 8pm, it's off Brigantine heading south at 12 knots. Check out where the ship Rappahannock is right now or any day. SO the Rappahannock’s AIS was off when fishing, but for the ride home it's on? Something smells fishy and it ain’t the millions of menhaden they took from our waters today!

This is quote from Carl Lobue of the Nature Conservancy: "It should be unacceptable for industrial-scale fishing boats to steam up the coast and take millions of forage fish from known whale feeding areas. New Yorkers can help by advocating for our whales and the tiny fish they depend on - contact your state senator and NY assembly member and urge them to pass legislation that will protect menhaden and stop unsustainable fishing practices in NY waters. People from all states can help by getting involved in the management of this publicly owned resources by talking to their ASMFC representatives about actions the Commission needs to take to ensure menhaden restoration stays on track."

We are going to need all kinds of help from our local and state representatives, all the way up to Governor Cuomo! Here is a map of all the NYS District and representative information.

Want to know how they catch a million menhaden a day? Here is a detailed look at the vessel Rappahannock and what a day looks like menhaden fishing.

Here is an award-winning documentary on menhaden that was produced by The Nature Conservancy & Red Vault Productions. I am very proud to be part of this documentary!