Quote:
Originally Posted by Lake Chuck Duck
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I spend a lot of time in a 16 ft aluminum boat in the ship channel south of the Pogey plant. Yes, the boats can bounce you around a bit with their wake, but I've always viewed the Pogey plant in a friendly way whether motoring by or being in the jetties and having the boats pass us. Those guys were doing real work and we're just fishing.
I hate to see Cameron lose any businesses, but the businesses that are separate from the petro-chemical industry are especially disappointing to see pack up and move out. Food and protein and fish oil are all important businesses. Too bad.
I wonder if the plant closing and subsequent reduction in the pogey harvest will have much impact on the local fishery? The Gulf Menhaden fishery is the 2nd largest fishery (by weight) in the US. That local fishery was probably harvesting several hundred million pounds of pogeys annually and probably also taking a significant bycatch of other species. In short, I expect that the local redfish and specks will have a lot more to eat in the next few years and should grow faster, be fatter, and have higher levels of fecundity. Redfish foraging pressure on blue crabs should also be reduced, so I think we can expect an uptick in crab availability.
On the other hand, if most of the biomass of Gulf Menhaden become too big for redfish and specks to eat, the impact could actually be negative.