Menhaden boats are unloaded at Beaufort Fisheries, where the catch is processed long into the night. 



BEAUFORT 

 FISHERIES: 



Last Menhaden 

 Plant in State Faces 

 Uncertain Future 



By Ann Green 

 Photographs by Scott D. Taylor 



Inside Beaufort Fisheries, the strong 

 smell of menhaden drifts through a dark, 

 empty room. Large cobwebs hang down 

 like a white veil on a light bulb. Huge 

 presses sit empty throughout the room. 



"At night, it is like a horror show in 

 here when the plant isn't operating," says 

 Jule Wheatly, president of Beaufort 

 Fisheries, Inc. 



The plant, which only operates when 

 the day's catch comes in, is reminiscent of 

 a bygone era when menhaden plants were 

 thriving in North Carolina. 



"There used to be seven menhaden 

 plants in Carteret County," says Wheatly. 

 "Now my plant is the only left in the state." 



Beaufort Fisheries also is one of only 

 two menhaden plants on the Atlantic Coast. 

 The other plant is in Reedville,Va. North 



Carolina and Virginia are the only states that 

 have reported menhaden landings along the 

 Atlantic since 1993, according to an Atlantic 

 States Marine Fisheries Commission draft 

 management report. Before that, there were 

 some landings in New England. 



With the Atlantic States Marine 

 Fisheries Commission scheduled to vote on 

 an Atlantic menhaden fishery management 

 plan in January, the Beaufort plant may be 

 closing. The draft amendment — which was 

 developed to address declines in the 

 population of Atlantic menhaden — 

 proposes restricting menhaden purse seine 

 fishing one mile from shore. 



"We may not be here after this year," 

 Wheatly says as 2000 draws to a close. "If 

 the Atlantic Fisheries Commission puts a 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 15 



