Omega Protein is looking for any and all Mariners aboard their fishing vessels. No licenses required (except for master) according to their recruiter. He says you don’t need an MMD, TWIC, or STCW. It may be a good opportunity to build sea time. Depends on how bad you need to work I guess. They also are in need of pilots for their spotter planes. Don’t know much about the boats except that I hear the smell is “heavenly and enticing”. I think they even make a Pogey Cologne!
Don’t know anything about the company other than I used to buy fish meal from them back when I traded commodities. Seemed like a reputable company from a business perspective.
I can attest to the “bouquet” of the menhaden purse seiner! I’ve spent about 2000 days on them. It’s good sea time…twelve hour days (although many of your days are longer than 12 hours)…and the boats run from the mid-500 ton to mid-600 ton (GRT, not ITC) range. Generally five days a week, sometimes six. The boats in the Gulf (Cameron, Du Lac and Moss Point) fish from mid April to mid October. The boats out of Reedville, Va. generally fish from mid May until December or January.
It’s hard work, long hours, OK accomodations and not much money but it’s a job and sea time. How good the job is depends on who the captain is. Good captains have good crews, GOOD COOKS, and catch more fish, thereby earning their crews more money. That’s why they have good crews and good cooks.
Those who are afraid of hard work, long hours, sea nettles and strong smells need not apply.
There’s also an outfit down in Empire that I think is a better company than Omega: Daybrook Fisheries. It’s a smaller, more “family oriented” company with good equipment. I’ve never worked for them, but I have friends who do.
If you’ve absolutely, positively got to have a job and/or 500+ ton sea time then give Omega or Daybrook a try. If you get a job as a pilot on a pogy boat, you WILL become a good boat handler or become unemployed. Moving those things around with the bottoms rubbing together or around the dock trying to stuff a 40 foot wide boat into a 40 foot six inch wide berth, with a single rudder, two woefully underpowered engines and one and a half million pounds of fish in the holds can get pretty exciting sometimes!
[QUOTE=Capt. Nemo;10418]
There’s also an outfit down in Empire that I think is a better company than Omega: Daybrook Fisheries. It’s a smaller, more “family oriented” company with good equipment. I’ve never worked for them, but I have friends who do.
Nemo[/QUOTE]
I was just comparing the fleets of these two companies and was surprised to see that Omega is fishing some boats built in the 1940’s by Pullman(I assume this is the company better known for railroad cars). I’ll admit, I know little about hull maintenance so could someone tell me if there would be any original steel on a commercial fishing boat this old? Or, is it a case of “Keep her painted and she’ll last forever”?
I can tell you that most of the boats out of Reedville were built in the forties and their bottoms and bulkheads are getting pretty skinny. Up until a few years ago they were pretty well maintained. Lately not so well. Lots of flaking paint and rust. I understand the boats they hauled out this year didn’t even get a coat of anti-foulant on the bottoms…just power washed and put back overboard.
Most of the boats fishing on the Gulf Coast are newer but the Omega boats suffer the same lack of maintenance. I don’t know about the Daybrook boats.
[quote=shoot31;10427]I was just comparing the fleets of these two companies and was surprised to see that Omega is fishing some boats built in the 1940’s by Pullman(I assume this is the company better known for railroad cars). I’ll admit, I know little about hull maintenance so could someone tell me if there would be any original steel on a commercial fishing boat this old? Or, is it a case of “Keep her painted and she’ll last forever”?
Thanks,
Shoot31[/quote]
Hey Shoot,
I worked on a couple old tugs that served in WWII. Dare not do any rust chipping. :eek: Keep’m washed, painted and keep a good supply of Bondo on board.
Oh, thanks for posting the info. Maybe my father is interested, I’m gonna tell him. He’s looking for a new job on a boat so that could be worth a try. He has also some online friends that are looking for work in the fishing industry. Jobs aren’t easy to get at the moment and I hope that they’re still hiring. The crisis seems to have hit all industries, not only finance and real estate.
