Please see below (after the transcript and show notes) for links to news and upcoming events.
TRANSCRIPT
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is
Virginia Water Radio for the week of September 17, 2012.
This week, we feature a musical tradition from African-American
watermen harvesting fish in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coastal
waters. Have a listen for about 90
seconds.
VOICE/MUSIC.
You’ve been listening to the Northern Neck Chantey Singers, performing
at the 2011 Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Festival in Charlottesville. Menhaden chanteys are an example of African-American
work songs, used in this case to coordinate several watermen in the grueling
labor of hauling up nets full of fish. Atlantic Menhaden are relatively small,
oily fish that feed on microscopic plants and animals and in turn are prey for
larger fish. Menhaden have been
harvested since the 1800s for a variety of industrial uses of their oils;
today, the Northern Neck town of Reedville is home to the Chesapeake Bay’s only
remaining industrial Menhaden operation, run by Omega Protein Corporation of
Houston, Texas. Hydraulic equipment now does
the net-hauling work formerly performed by watermen, and Menhaden harvest
quotas are a controversial issue among Atlantic states. The Northern Neck Chantey Singers remind us that
such current issues are part of the long, challenging history of Virginians on
the water. Thanks to the Virginia
Foundation for the Humanities for permission to use this week’s sounds.
For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia
water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org,
or call us at (540) 231-5463. From the
Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo,
thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.
SHOW NOTES
Hauling in the purse seine net, 1930. Photo courtesy of the image collection of the Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, used with permission; online at http://images.marinersmuseum.org/#/page/home/ (9/14/12).
Acknowledgments: Audio of the Northern Neck Chantey Singers was from a video of
their September 11, 2011, performance at the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship
Showcase in Charlottesville, used with permission of the Virginia Foundation
for the Humanities (145 Ednam Drive, Charlottesville, VA 22903; phone: (434)
924-3296; e-mail: folklife@virginia.edu;
Web site: http://virginiahumanities.org/). The full performance video is available
online at http://virginiafolklife.org/2011/09/apprenticeshipslideshow/.
Sources and More
Information: Information on the
Northern Neck Chantey Singers was taken from “Menhaden Chanteys: An African
American Legacy,” by Harold Anderson in the Jan.-Feb. 2000 issue of Maryland Marine Notes, from the Maryland
Sea Grant Program, available online at http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/marinenotes/jan-feb00/index.html
(as of 9/14/12).
Other sources of information on Atlantic Menhaden (Brevoortia
tyrannus) and Menhaden fishing are the following (all accessed
9/14/12):
“Atlantic Menhaden” (August 2012), Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission, online at http://www.asmfc.org/atlanticMenhaden.htm;
“A History of Menhaden Fishing,” Maryland Marine Notes (January-February 2000), Maryland Sea Grant, online at http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/MarineNotes/jan-feb00/side3/;
“Menhaden Fishing” (2002), The Mariners Museum (Newport News, Va.), online at http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/cbhf/waterman/wat011.html;
“A History of Menhaden Fishing,” Maryland Marine Notes (January-February 2000), Maryland Sea Grant, online at http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/MarineNotes/jan-feb00/side3/;
“Menhaden Fishing” (2002), The Mariners Museum (Newport News, Va.), online at http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/cbhf/waterman/wat011.html;
“Menhaden” (undated), Chesapeake Bay Program, online at http://www.chesapeakebay.net/issues/issue/menhaden#inline;
and
“The History” (undated), Omega Protein Corporation, online
at http://www.omegaproteininc.com/about/history.aspx.
Recent Virginia Water
News
For
news relevant to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper,
available online at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/.
Water Meetings and
Other Events
For
events related to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Quick Guide to Virginia Water–related
Conferences, Workshops, and Other Events, online at http://virginiawaterevents.wordpress.com/. The site includes a list of Virginia
government policy and regulatory meetings occurring in the coming week.