MOSS POINT, MS (WLOX) – Inside Omega Protein, mountains of fish meal wait to be processed. The smell is intense, but for workers here, they like to say it smells like money.
Outside, fishing boats are docked as the season winds down. Last season was wiped out, when the BP oil spill shut down virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico to fishing.
Tom Wittman is the general manager of the Moss Point operation. There were some worries heading into 2011.
"Of course we had concerns but as we went into the year with testing on the fish and the fish abundance it turned out to be better than expected," Wittmann said.
Overfishing is not a concern.
"Menhaden fishing is very regulated," Wittmann said. "National Marine Fisheries, every other year they do stock assessments and the reports have come back that the species is healthy."
Wittmann said the fish meal may be the same as always, but the market for the product is changing.
"What we're trying to do is get our product in the higher niche markets," Wittmann explained. "The Omega 3 fatty acid is very important to human health and we're moving most of our products in that direction."
When most people think of this industry, they think of fish. But it's a lot more than that. This company employs accountants, secretaries, and clerks. Not only that, they have their own shipyard to refurbish ships, according to Wittmann.