Jule Wheatly surveys a warehouse witr 

 meal produced from menhaden, 



one-mile limit for fishing we'll have to 

 close. Seventy-five percent of our catch is 

 from the shoreline to one mile." 



Some citizens in Brunswick County 

 support the restriction of menhaden fishing 

 on beachfronts. In 1999, a large fish kill of 

 menhaden was reported in Brunswick County. 



"You can't look at just what is best for 

 menhaden fisheries alone," says Oak Island 

 Mayor Joan Altman. "You also have to 

 look at what is best for beachfront commu- 

 nities. Many people in our community 

 think that menhaden fishing should be kept 

 a mile offshore." 



For the past several years, Wheatly has 

 been fighting to keep his business open. On 

 a recent day, he holds up a 1998 aerial 

 photo of schools of menhaden near the 

 shore of Core Banks. White spots show 

 dead menhaden; dark spots show live 

 menhaden. All told, there are about 200 

 million menhaden. 



Wheatly says the photo has saved him 

 at many meetings. 



"The fish get close to shore, and when 

 the tide goes out, the fish are trapped and 

 often for lack of oxygen die in the center of 

 the school," says Wheatly. 



While sitting in his wood-paneled 

 office, Wheatly also points to other photos, 

 including an old black-and-white photo of a 

 menhaden boat. 



piles of fish 



"When I was a 

 kid, they had 100 

 menhaden boats like 

 that one" docked on 

 Front Street in 

 Beaufort, says 

 Wheatly. "Now there 

 are none." 



The only two 

 menhaden boats left 

 in Beaufort are owned 

 by Beaufort Fisheries. 

 On a recent day, the 

 Gregory Poole — a 

 refurbished World 

 War II mine sweeper 

 — is docked at 

 Taylor's Creek. A 

 small purse-seine boat 

 used to catch 

 menhaden is parked near the stern. 



"This boat was built in 1945," says 

 Wheatly. "It was immediately put in 

 mothballs and never did battle. We bought it 

 in 1972 and converted it to a menhaden 

 boat. We redid it again in 1988." 



Visitors can see the boat as they enter 

 the front of the factory at the guard station 

 on Front Street. 



Built at the turn of the 20th century, the 

 plant was bought by Wheatly 's grandfather, 

 C.R. Wheatly, and William Potter in 1934. 

 Jule Wheatly joined the operations in 1973. 



"When I came here, there was only one 

 house here and a pond close to the fish 

 factory," he says. 



Now the end of Front Street is lined 

 with rows of new homes and condominiums. 



The factory, which has about 75 

 employees, includes a number of buildings, 

 two wooden piers and a huge net wheel that 

 stretches 300 yards. 



"Men used to walk inside and turn the 

 wheel by hand," says Wheatly. "Now, it has 

 a hydraulic motor." 



The processing begins right after the 

 menhaden catch is brought to the dock. The 

 fish are left on the boat where they are 

 sucked with a pump that then dumps the 

 catch into a raw box shaped like a boat hull. 

 About 1 ,000 menhaden can be sucked 

 through at one time. 



"The technology has improved a lot," 

 says Ross Goode, who has worked at the 

 plant since 1948. "You used to have to 

 move fish with a fork before they got air 

 hoses." 



Now the fish are ready to be cooked in 

 huge boilers, then sent to large presses 

 where the liquid is squeezed out of the fish. 



"We pressed about a million fish last 

 night," says Wheatly. 



During the next process, the liquid goes 

 to a large centrifuge that spins the liquid to 

 separate the water from the oil. The oil is 

 saved in tanks and later sold for cosmetics 

 and other purposes. The bulk of the material 

 goes to a dryer that prepares it for fish meal. 



"We can process about 1 10,000 pounds 

 of fish meal an hour from start to finish," 

 says Wheatly. 



The fish meal, which is high in protein, 

 is then stacked in mounds like small 

 mountains in a warehouse where it is ready 

 to be transported. 



Menhaden, which comes from an 

 Indian word meaning "makes things grow," 

 has a tremendous growth factor, says 

 Wheatly. Indians used the fish as a fertilizer 

 to make corn grow. 



The plant's busiest season is the fall, 

 when menhaden have gotten large enough to 

 be profitable for processing into oil. 



In the summer, you only get about one 

 gallon of oil per thousand pounds of menhaden, 

 in comparison to the fall when you get 10 or 

 1 1 gallons per thousand, says Wheatly. 



The plant closes in mid-January and 

 reopens in April or May when the N.C. 

 Division of Marine Fisheries opens the 

 spring menhaden season. 



In the height of the season, two vessels 

 run near shorelines. When both crews bring 

 in more than 3.5 million pounds of menha- 

 den, the plant operates around the clock. 



"It takes 24 hours to cook 3.5 million 

 pounds of fish," says Wheatly. "Sometimes 

 we start at Thanksgiving and never stop 

 until Christmas." 



Wheatly hopes to continue to see busy 

 seasons. 



"I can't tell you how many meetings 

 I have gone to, fighting for my plant," he 

 says. EI 



16 WINTER 2001 



