The Virginia Pilot Online is reporting that thousands of dead menhaden floating in the water off Cape Henry may be tied to a vessel operated by the fish-processing company Omega Protein. One of the fishing vessels in the Omega Protein fleet. Photo courtesy of cgauxonline.com It's standard operational procedure for the hauling vessels to radio others in the area when they pull more fish than they can carry, with the hope that the other boats may be able to help collect the excess fish. But it's being reported that all other commercial vessels in the area were already at capacity. As a result, the Omega Protein vessel dumped about 30,000 menhaden fish back into the water. While they were reportedly alive when they were dumped, the fish soon died due to environmental stressors associated with captivity. None have reportedly washed ashore, and the dead fish are currently being tracked by airplane.