Menhaden Days

One little- known historic state fishery is menhaden, a small industrial fish caught by the hundreds of thousands at a time in huge fishing net called purse seines. Connecticut was a pioneer in the menhaden industry, which processed the fish into fertilizer and animal feed. From the mid-1800s to the 1930s, about 10 menhaden processing plants dotted the Connecticut shoreline from Stonington to Niantic.

Menhaden had a dozen different names. Bunkers in Long Island, Bony Fish in Connecticut, Poggies in Maine and Massachusetts, Fatbacks in Chesapeake. A typical factory would be operating 8 to 10 steamers. Quite a few were built in Noank, a dozen or more.  All of these steamers had large crews. The Connecticut-based menhaden industry flourished until its decline in the 1930s.

Adapted From Connecticut and The Sea - by Kenneth A. Simon