Some Silver Beach residents and vacationers are at odds with Omega Protein’s news release during the fish spill that occurred earlier this week.
Beaches from Silver Beach to Pungoteague were covered with dead menhaden after a torn net resulted in thousands of fish washing ashore. Some are claiming that the beach was covered in dead fish before July 6, when Omega reports one of the nets on their boats tore.
Elizabeth Pase of Silver Beach notified us that the fish were there before July 6 as Omega claims.
Pase said,” the beaches at Silver Beach were covered with dead menhaden by about noon on Sunday, July 3. The beaches were littered with dead fish and the stench was overwhelming. I can tell you that Omega did not have clean-up crews at Silver Beach as soon as the fish began appearing; on Sunday the residents there were busy trying to clean up the dead fish in an attempt to make the beach usable.”
Fish spills are not new to the Chesapeake Bay beaches on the Eastern Shore. They have occurred from time to time in the past.
.