Producer
Omega Protein Corporation (Cooke Inc.)
Dominant US menhaden fishery operator; ~90% of US menhaden harvest; primary US source of fish meal and omega-3 fish oil for pet food.
2
Inputs supplied
2
Goods downstream
0
Facilities
0
Stories
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2 inputs Omega Protein Corporation (Cooke Inc.) supplies
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Fishmeal (Menhaden Reduction)
45%Fish Oil (Omega-3)
40%Specialty Omega-3 Products
15%
Intelligence
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Did you know2023
Omega Protein controls approximately 90% of the US menhaden reduction fishery — and menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) are the most important forage fish in the US Atlantic coast ecosystem. Menhaden filter phytoplankton and are eaten by striped bass, bluefish, whales, dolphins, gannets, and ospreys. As the largest single user of Atlantic menhaden, Omega Protein's catch directly affects the food availability for marine predators throughout the Northeast Atlantic coast. The same fish that goes into your Costco fish oil capsule is the primary food source for Chesapeake Bay striped bass and Gulf of Mexico bluefin tuna. Virginia prohibited commercial menhaden fishing in the Chesapeake Bay for ecological reasons, but federal waters (offshore) remain open to industrial-scale harvesting. A Canadian aquaculture company (Cooke Inc., which acquired Omega Protein in 2017) now controls a fishery that affects a large fraction of the US Atlantic marine food web — the same operator that raises farmed salmon in Canada controls the forage fish supply that feeds wild fish up and down the eastern seaboard.
Omega Protein Corporation (Cooke Inc.) ↗Chokepoint2023
Omega Protein (acquired by Cooke Inc. in 2017 for ~$500M) harvests approximately 90% of all menhaden caught in US waters. The Reedville Virginia reduction plant — continuously operated since 1878 — is the last menhaden facility on the US East Coast, making it the only domestic US source of menhaden-derived fish oil and fish meal for pet food.
Center for Land Use Interpretation ↗