The Bird Watchers?

  Early this morning, a lone Brown Pelican was diving around the pier.  It almost seemed to be "too" quiet. Yesterday, a school of shrimp passed through which had the usual following of seagulls, terns and pelicans.  The Bay was "hopping" with activity.   The screeching of the gulls seemed to let every other bird know that the "feed" was on!  Then, overnight, the school of shrimp moved elsewhere and drew most of the predatory birds with them.  The pelican that stayed behind was not in need, however, as massive schools of menhaden and mullet filled the waters.  The bird was fat and happy! It was smart to lag behind and not get caught up in the frenetic doings of the masses. The pelican could lounge about the calm waters and scoop up menhaden and mullet.

  By watching the waterfowl, it is not hard to tell just what is passing below the surface of the water.  With shrimp, the birds are in a feeding frenzy.  Hundreds will dive until their bellies are stuffed.  When the schools are of menhaden, the birds take their dear, sweet time to catch their meal.  The mullet are a different story as the birds have to work harder.  Mullet are fast and travel in much smaller schools.  Local fishermen can all read these signs and know which fish will be biting simply by how the birds are acting.  It is an art! Or maybe a science!  Whatever!  Watch the birds and they will tell you where to fish and what bait to use.

Fish Bait?

  I was pondering the lowly fish that locals around here only think of as bait.  It must be a sad day in your life when you realize that your major role is to be used to catch something bigger and better.  What does that say?  Then again, maybe it is a sad day in their lives anyway as they are caught so it really does not matter what the end result is unless they are returned to the water intact.  But still....

  That thinking got the wheels in my brain a-turning and I had to find out more about our bait of choice, Menhaden.  I have to admit, the little fish are excellent bait but that is not as far as their worth goes according to the human rating system.  The fish are used for far more things than I ever imagined.  The largest use is as fish oil.  Billions (yes, billions) of pounds each year are caught and the oil is extracted.  This oil is used in dietary supplements, in human food, in pet food and...get this...as an additive to fish food.  (The fish are caught to feed other fish?)  After the oil is removed, the rest of the fish is dried and ground into fish meal which is also added to animal food. A bit of further investigation also revealed that these little fishies are big money to those folks who create makeup and lipstick.  That shimmer and glimmer in many makeup products and lipsticks is due to added fish scales.  The Menhaden scales actually do resemble glitter! (So the next time you wear some glittery makeup, think fish.)

  The fishing for the pogies goes back a long way.  For centuries, the tiny fish were caught and used as fertilizer on farms and as food for hogs.  As fertilizer, the fish decay quickly making the soil much richer and promoting rapid growth of the plants.  Farmers of old used the fish instead of chemicals that are now dumped into the soil.  While some folks would decry that this is unsanitary, it was a far safer mode of fertilizing plants than that of today.  I have tried it...it works.  The garden did well with only a few flies in the ointment...literally.  While that saying usually means "problems", I actually had flies...coons, birds, cats, dogs, coyotes, turtles and a myriad of other critters digging up my fishy fertilizer.  So...if you try this, make sure to not use it in a garden near the house.  Once critters dig up your fishies, the stench gets pretty bad.  Also, bury them deep!  Very deep.  And wait a week or two before digging around in there.  You really do not want to dig up any surprises.  Other than that, as a fertilizer, the fish did well.  I had some of the best tomatoes that year!  

  So, in thinking about these little fish and their many, many uses, it seems to me that Menhaden need to be recognized as more important than just a fish bait.  Think of how many things revolve around their very existence and with the billions of pounds harvested each year, be thankful for that female that can produce up to 300,000 eggs per year!  She keeps things running like a well-oiled machine.  (Yeah, I went there...sorry.)