Posts Tagged market squid
Apr	4 2018
Market squid tell a tale of two krill
In good years, noisy fishing boats filled with freshly-netted market squid spill their slippery catch into processing plants on the California coast. During those years, market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) are California's most productive fishery, accounting for up to $70 million in revenue and 110,000 metric tons of squid. But in other years, calamari is hard to find. Cyclical changes in ocean conditions change the productivity of California waters, and as a result squid populations plummet and the fishing industry suffers.
Fishermen and researchers have known about this cycle for decades—the rise and fall of squid populations are clearly linked to El Niño cycles—but the cause is a complicated tale. This is according to Steven Litvin, an ecologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). Litvin spent several years researching the ups and downs of market squid looking for trends that could help fishers and regulators better predict how squid populations might respond to natural and human-induced changes in the ocean.
Market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) are one of California's biggest fisheries, but their populations fluctuate drastically with changes in ocean climate conditions. Image: © 2001 MBARI
The story starts with juvenile market squid, a month or so after they hatch from their egg capsules. The young predators are only 15-70 millimeters long, "sort of similar in size and shape to a baby carrot," said Litvin. As they grow to adult size, the juveniles rely in large part on two different species of krill as food.
Thysanoessa spinifera is one of two species of krill that market squid often feed on in California waters. Image: Steve Haddock
Krill are small crustaceans that live their lives filtering tiny algae, also known as phytoplankton, out of the water column. In places like California, where upwelling currents bring deep, cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface, the algae bloom and flourish, nourishing huge swarms of krill. But when ocean conditions vary, so do the phytoplankton.
In an El Niño year, the surface of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean warms, winds change, and upwelling slows along the usually productive California coast. These are less productive years in terms of the oceanic food web—less upwelling means less algae, which means fewer krill. Fewer krill mean that juvenile squid might have a tough time finding and collecting enough food.
Litvin and colleagues decided to pick apart one piece of this complex story—the feeding behavior of juvenile squid on two krill species. The krill vary both over time, with El Niño cycles and other changes in yearly productivity, and over space, up and down the California coast. One species of krill (Thysanoessa spinifera) gathers in larger numbers over the continental shelf near to shore, thrives in nutrient-rich waters, and is more frequently found in central and northern California. The other (Euphausia pacifica) is common farther away from shore in deeper water, and can be found anywhere along the California coast.
Most species of krill spend their nights feeding on algae near the sea surface and descend into dark, inaccessible waters during the day to avoid predators. But E. pacifica makes a much longer daily migration than T. spinifera, taking them deeper below the surface and making them more difficult prey for juvenile squid. In productive years, Litvin expected that squid would feed on plentiful krill from both species, but during unproductive years the squid might be forced to change their diets.
This graphic shows simplified food webs for market squid during productive years and unproductive years. The sizes of the circles indicate the relative populations of each type of animal. Image: Vicky Stein © 2018 MBARI
In partnership with the National Marine Fisheries Service Litvin and the team used samples from midwater trawl surveys to look at stable isotopes in juvenile squid tissue. By looking at specific kinds of carbon and nitrogen atoms in a squid's body, the researchers hoped to learn where that individual's food was coming from.
Researchers find a tangled web of isotope gradients in the oceans. Isotopes, "heavier" or "lighter" versions of atoms like carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen, move differently through nutrient cycles and food webs. Nitrogen-15, for example, is found to increase in animals higher up the food web, accumulating as one animal consumes another.
If Litvin found that a squid had stable carbon and nitrogen values close to those of T. spinifera, the near-shore krill, it would suggest that the animal was feeding more heavily on this species. Squid with different isotope values could be feeding more heavily on offshore krill (E. pacifica) or other prey. Litvin noted that with so many different variables affecting isotopes (latitude, distance from land, water depth, and others), the specific numbers can be confusing. Researchers must make careful comparisons between sampling sites and years.
Litvin and colleagues examined juvenile squid tissue samples collected from many sites along the California coast in 2013 and 2015. While 2013 was an average year in terms of productivity, 2015 was a year of a strong El Niño event—an atypical year with variable upwelling, an unusual offshore warm water "blob," and changes in food webs.
Over the whole California coast in 2013, squid isotope values in areas with lots of upwelling and productivity corresponded well with T. spinifera as a major food source for the juvenile squid, as expected. Litvin was then unsurprised to find that in 2015, isotope ratios indicated that juvenile squid in some of the same areas fed less on T. spinifera and more heavily on difficult-to-catch E. pacifica.
Southern California was a bit different. The squid populations in the south are less variable than the boom-and-bust cycles commonly seen in central California and, no matter the ocean conditions, those squid seem to rely on E. pacifica. While central California squid populations seemed to respond to relative abundances of T. spinifera and E. Pacifica, southern California populations might respond just based on the abundance or absence of E. pacifica. The variation between unproductive and normal years, said Litvin, could be "based on the same productivity, but with different drivers."
Swarms of krill, such as this one, flourish in productive, phytoplankton-rich water. Image © 2003 MBARI
Litvin started this research before joining Jim Barry's lab at MBARI. Now, Litvin hopes he and his fellow researchers will be able to discover even more of the interactions that tie together krill, squid, and environmental oscillation.
As El Niño cycles affect productivity off of the California coast, scientists and fishermen will be watching squid populations closely. And as climate change begins to shift patterns of upwelling and other ocean conditions, Litvin hopes that research on the interactions between currents, krill, and squid will help people predict what might happen to this lucrative and vital species.
According to Litvin, "it's still a really evolving story."
Originally posted: https://www.mbari.org/ Article by Vicky Stein
Permalink | Categories View from the Ocean on April 4, 2018 by DaveGogel | No Comments
Tags: El Nino, market squid
Could market squid become a new Southeast fishery?
Southeast Alaska marine scientists got a rare peek this year into the hatching of a certain species of squid.
"I've never seen it. In fact, I've never seen squid in Southeast and I've been here since 1976," said Gordon Garcia. He works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Auke Bay.
Market squid eggs were found this past summer in a salmon capture device at the NOAAs Little Port Walter field station. That's located on the eastern shore of the southern tip of Baranof Island.
The squid are native to Southeast and are commercially harvested in California. But Garcia said this is the first time evidence of market squid spawning has been found at the research station, which has been there since the 1920s.
NOAA's Gordon Garcia shows one of the tanks that is being used to hatch and culture market squid in the wet lab at Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
"The squid actually spawned in the capture device and our staff there grabbed some of them," Garcia said. The live squid died quickly, so he settled for eggs and began experimenting in July. I visited him in September.
Garcia is a facilities manager at the institute, but he studied marine zoology in college and spent 30 years at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He's curious to know if the squid can be cultured.
In the tanks where the squid eggs are kept, Garcia points out what he calls "squidleys," also known as hatchlings.
"We see this mass of squid hatching and they're all attracted to the light," Garcia said as we watched the squidleys dart around and swim.
Garcia calls this photo "Squidnado" because of the tornado-like formation of market squid hatchlings that swam toward the light. (Photo courtesy Gordon Garcia/NOAA)
The eggs are housed in what looks like a puffy, translucent white sea anemone. About 30 to 40 eggs are in each finger.
Garcia took an early photo of the first hatchlings that resembled an underwater tornado. He dubbed it "Squidnado" as an homage to recent cheesy sci-fi movies that mix weather phenomenon and marine life.
The experiment is conducted in eight tanks. One of the tanks has water piped in from Auke Bay, which stays around 49 degrees Fahrenheit. In another tank, the water is warmed to 61 degrees.
The eggs in the warmer tank hatched first but then died after about a week. Eggs in the cooler tank began to hatch about four weeks later.
Garcia said market squid typically live about a year and grow to 8 to 10 inches long.
"You could get those little calamari rings out of them. Yeah, dice them up," he said, laughing.
At one point, there were clouds of squidleys in the lab's tanks, Garcia said. As many as 7,000 hatched between late summer and early fall.
"They're just popping out as we're talking. You can see that cloud is getting denser and denser. If I were to go shake these egg masses, I'd probably triple the number of critters that you see there," Garcia said.
"I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all. I hate to see them die, but that's nature, of course. We'll take the strongest and see if we can't make them grow."
Market squid hatchling is photographed under extreme magnification. (Photo courtesy Gordon Garcia/NOAA)
Garcia spent three months experimenting with the size of the tank, the kind of gravel at the bottom, water flow and food sources. The tricky part was getting the squid to eat.
He tried salmon meal, rehydrated freeze-dried rotifers or a form of zooplankton and brine shrimp. Some of the cold water squid doubled in size after feeding on the brine shrimp, but the shrimp themselves did not thrive very well in the cold water.
Sadly, despite Garcia's attempts to keep the squidleys alive, the experiment only lasted about three months. The last one died Oct. 6.
Watch the video on the original post: http://www.ktoo.org/
Tags: market squid, Southeast fishery
Oct	21 2015
Plenty of anchovies in Monterey Bay, but maybe not elsewhere
Protectionist groups are basing their "crisis" mantra on a paper that chose to ignore the abundance of anchovy observed at nearshore survey sites in southern California in recent years. In reality, fishermen report abundant anchovies in southern California as well as Monterey Bay. Here is a comment from one fisherman:
"There has been major tonnage [of anchovy] in the Los Angeles / Long Beach harbor for quite some time — a year plus. Almost all of it has been very small pinhead. There has been pretty good volume of 'chovy in front of Newport Beach for a couple of months. Little bit bigger than pinhead but not real big. In June, Catalina was loaded with small pinhead anchovy. Front and back of the island. Volume was many thousand ton. At the same time, we would see the anchovy in the channel daytime as well, a lot of it! "
As the reporter quoted at the end of this story: the allowable harvest limit for anchovy is very conservative.
Monterey >> Things are shifting for fishermen in Monterey Bay.
Market squid are disappearing, and in their place, fishing boats are reeling in piles of anchovies.
But while they appear abundant, conservation groups warn that the forage fish may be at their lowest levels since the 1950s.
"It's an anomalous year," said Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association. "Typically these are not the kind of oceanographic conditions that anchovy like. But they are here and they're really close to shore, which is why we're having a spectacular year for whale watching."
Anchovies aren't just bringing whales into the bay — they're also attracting fishing fleets.
"There are thousands of tons," said Sal Tringali, president of Monterey Fish Company, whose fishermen in Moss Landing are landing about 120 tons of anchovies each night and expect to do so for about another month. "There are all the anchovies you want out here."
Tringali said the majority of his harvest never fills human bellies, as roughly 70 percent of the catch travels to Australia to feed tuna.
Records from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife show that, across the state, fishermen landed 13,508 metric tons of anchovies this year.
That number was fine in previous years, but now it's dangerous, said Geoff Shester of conservation group Oceana.
"This level of catch is sustainable when the stock is healthy," Shester said. "But new information shows that the stock is at such a low level right now, it's literally in a state of collapse."
Survey cruises conducted by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center detected little to no anchovy eggs from 2010 to 2013. The lack of eggs, coupled with a recent study still in review that suggests anchovy biomass has decreased by over 99 percent from 2005 to 2009, has Shester and his fellow conservationists concerned.
"Every ton we can keep in the water is extremely valuable for the future of anchovies and the amazing multimillion-dollar whale-watching and wildlife-viewing destination that is Monterey Bay," Shester said.
Shester, along with representatives from four other conservation groups, recently sent a letter to the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which oversees fisheries from Washington to California, urging the council to reconsider its anchovy management strategy and conduct a new stock assessment. They argue that because the last anchovy assessment was taken in 1995, current management policy doesn't apply to modern numbers.
Sit on the docks where anchovies are sorted and you'll likely see lots of the silvery fish piling up. But it's a mirage, warns William Sydeman, ecologist of the Farallon Institute, who coauthored the paper that estimated anchovies at low levels.
"People think that if they're in Monterey Bay, they must be everywhere," Sydeman said. "They're not. They're only in Monterey Bay."
Sydeman said anchovies tend to aggregate near shore when their numbers are low, giving the appearance of abundance. When numbers are actually strong, he said, the fish expand offshore, disappearing from sight.
"People think, 'Oh look at all these whales, there must be a ton of fish,' and that's probably true," said Sydeman. "There is a local abundance of anchovies. But it's local. That doesn't mean global abundance."
The National Marine Fisheries Service enforces a cap on anchovies. Josh Lindsay, policy analyst for the service, believes that number is conservative.
"To take a precautionary approach," Lindsay said, "we took the overfishing limit and told the fishing fleet that they could only catch 25,000 metric tons. That's a pretty large buffer built into our management."
The Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet next month to review the latest findings on anchovy numbers.
Read the original post: www.montereyherald.com/
Permalink | Categories View from the Ocean on October 21, 2015 by DaveGogel | No Comments
Tags: market squid, Monterey Bay, nchovies
Aug	5 2014
Paul Greenberg misses the boat in his push for local California squid; fails to understand market
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Opinion] by D.B. Pleschner Aug 5, 2014
Recently author Paul Greenberg, now on a media tour promoting his latest book, wrote about California squid in the LA times – suggesting something was amiss when California exported its squid, and then re-imported it for local consumption. But he never talked to the squid fishermen. Now they want to set the record straight, with the 'inconvenient truths' about the California Squid fishery, which is one of the lowest impact fisheries on the planet. D.B. Pleschner, head of the California Wetfish producers, responds.
In his op-ed to the Los Angeles Times last week, author Paul Greenberg could have dodged some critical misstatements and inaccuracies about the marketing of California squid – the state's largest catch.
All he had to do was check with local sources, including the California Wetfish Producers Association, which represents the majority of squid processors and fishermen in the Golden State and promotes California squid.
Instead, Greenberg missed the boat on a number of issues, including the overall carbon footprint of seafood, but equally important, the reasons why most of the squid that California exports is consumed overseas!
To set the record straight, here are some inconvenient truths you wouldn't know about squid by reading last week's op-ed:
First, size matters and price rules when it comes to California market squid, which are one of the smallest of more than 300 squid species found worldwide. The U.S. "local" market really prefers larger, "meatier" squid, notwithstanding Greenberg's 'locavore' movement.
Greenberg acknowledged the labor cost to produce cleaned squid in California adds at least $1.50 per pound to the end product. In fact, local production costs double the price of cleaned squid, due to both labor (at least $15 per hour with benefits) and super-sized overhead costs, including workers' comp, electricity, water and myriad other costs of doing business in the Golden State.
Del Mar Seafood is one processor in California that micro-processes cleaned squid at the request of markets like the CSA that Greenberg mentioned. In fact, virtually all California squid processors do the same thing at the request of their customers. But at 1,000 pounds per order, we would need 236,000 CSAs, restaurants or retail markets paying $1.50 more per pound to account for the total harvest. If the demand were there, we'd be filling it!
Greenberg also misconstrued the issue of food miles. Respected researchers like Dr. Peter Tyedmers, from Dalhousie University in Canada, found that transport makes a minor contribution to overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, when considering the carbon footprint of seafood (or land-based foods). Mode of production is far more important.
Here's another surprise: California squid is one of the most efficient fisheries in the world – because a limited fleet harvests a lot of squid within a short distance of processing plants.
Studies show that the California wetfish fleet, including squid, can produce 2,000 pounds of protein for only 6 gallons of diesel. Squid are then flash frozen to preserve freshness and quality. Keep in mind that even with immaculate handling, fresh squid spoil in a few days.
As counterintuitive as it may seem, even with product block-frozen and ocean-shipped to Asia for processing, California's squid fishery is one of the 'greenest' in the world. One recent survey estimated that about 30 percent of California squid is now either processed here or transshipped to Asia for processing (other Asian countries besides China now do the work) and re-imported.
China, although important, is only one export market that craves California squid. With a growing middle class billions strong, Chinese consumers can now afford California squid themselves. Many countries that import California squid prefer the smaller size, and California squid goes to Mediterranean countries as well. In short, most of the squid that California's fishery exports are consumed overseas. Why? The U.S. palate for squid pales in comparison to Asian and European demand.
Also important to understand: California squid is the economic driver of California's wetfish industry – which produces more than 80 percent of the total seafood volume landed in the Golden State. California squid exports also represent close to 70 percent by weight and 44 percent of value of all California seafood exports. Our squid fishery contributes heavily to the Golden State's fishing economy and also helps to offset a growing seafood trade imbalance.
The sad reality is that price really does matter and most California restaurants and retail markets are not willing to pay double for the same – or similar – small squid that they can purchase for half the price.
Nonetheless, we do appreciate Greenberg's pitch for local seafood. Our local industry would be delighted if, as he suggested, all Californians would be willing to pay $1.50 a pound more for California squid. We may be biased, but in our opinion California squid really is the best!
D.B. Pleschner is Executive Director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, a nonprofit designed to promote sustainable wetfish resources.
Photo Credit: The Smelly Alley Fish Company
Permalink | Categories Breaking News, Opinion, View from the Ocean on August 5, 2014 by DaveGogel | No Comments
Tags: California Wetfish Producers Association, market squid, squid
Lowly squid tops king salmon as Monterey's top cash fishery
More than 6 percent of California's seafood haul comes from the Monterey area, a region with a deep history of commercial fishing. Last year, catches of the humble squid generated about twice as much cash as the kingly chinook salmon.
We've crunched the numbers to rank the top 10 commercial fisheries in the coastal fringes of Silicon Valley, which you can peruse below.
Bryce Druzin
Reporter- Silicon Valley Business Journal
View the original article here.
Permalink | Categories Breaking News on April 24, 2014 by DaveGogel | No Comments
Tags: fishing industry, market squid, monterey, squid
Aug	19 2013
California's squid industry is booming
For years, the squid business in Morro Bay has been light weight, but this year, it's heavy. Tons and tons of Market Squid are brought into the harbor every morning.
The abundance is because it's spawning season. At this time of the year, Market Squid travel in massive schools to spawn and die.
The squid industry was volatile for a few years because the state did not want them to be over-fished, so regulations were put in place. Today, there is a limit on how many one boat can catch, and under new regulations, they cannot be fished on the weekends.
"This boat went out last night. They can get 40 tons in a couple hours," said Giovanni DeGarimore.
The Ocean Angel threw nets just off the coast from Pismo Beach.
"They use these big nets. So they circle it and then they close it up at the bottom and scoop it all up," he explained.
Once they've scooped tons and tons of squid, the boat heads back to Morro Bay to unload.
"We are unloading for Del Mar Seafoods. They are one of the larger producers of calamari in California," said DeGarimore.
For Giovanni DeGarimore. the process is like a harvest. The tanks on the boat are connected to a suction tube that moves the squid onto a conveyer belt. The squid are then dumped into bins and iced.
Watch the story and read the article here.
Permalink | Categories Breaking News on August 19, 2013 by DianePleschner | No Comments
Tags: California, market squid, ocean, research, squid, squid season
How to prepare squid: How to clean, prepare and cook squid.
These are a few tips from our friends in the UK on how to clean, prepare and cook squid, note that the squid is a little larger than California squid, but the process is similar.
Points to remember:
Pull out the tentacles from the main body. Cut just below the eye and discard the innards. Discard the beak and then trim the long tentacles level with the rest.
Pinch the two fins together, thread thumb underneath and pull them away from the body, along with the membrane and discard.
Pull out the shell or 'quill' and then remove the innards using the back of a knife.
Cut the squid open, and scrape any more innards out and discard. Cut into slices, or score the squid and cut into pieces.
You can now cook the squid. Frying is a popular method – squid pieces just need to be cooked for 30-40 seconds on a very high heat. Serve immediately.
Read more tips and watch video here.
Permalink | Categories Recipes on June 24, 2013 by DianePleschner | No Comments
Tags: cooking, market squid, squid, squid season
Squid fishermen wrap up another banner year
HALF MOON BAY — It's a great time to be a calamari lover.
California fishermen have capitalized on favorable ocean conditions with a historic three-year haul of market squid, whose cylindrical bodies are most recognizable in appetizer form: sliced, breaded and deep-fried. These small squid make up the state's largest fishery by both weight and value, having brought in roughly $68.5 million in 2011.
Fishermen netted a record-breaking 133,642 tons of the cephalopods during the 2010-11 season, then topped that mark the following year with 134,910 tons, according to the California Department of Fish and Game. This season's catch was also robust, though it is expected to fall a bit short of those staggering totals.
More than 80 percent of the state's market squid are typically caught in Southern California around the Channel Islands, and most of the rest are netted in Monterey Bay. But this year brought unprecedented fishing activity to the San Mateo County coast, said Mike McHenry, one of only a couple of people who fish squid out of Pillar Point Harbor north of Half Moon Bay.
"This is by far the biggest season we've ever seen up in this country,"
Permalink | Categories Breaking News on December 5, 2012 by DianePleschner | No Comments
Tags: Dungeness crab, fish, fishermen, La nina, market squid, squid
California Still Leaving Plenty of Fish in the Sea
Re "Fisherman agree: Big fish need little fish" (Viewpoints, June 22):
The article omitted key facts the public should understand about California's fisheries. Appealing to the Pacific Fishery Management Council to "forestall the harvest of forage species that aren't currently being fished," the authors cited a Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force study finding that worldwide, forage fish are mostly ground into meal to feed livestock and farmed fish. This is untrue in California. They didn't point out that according to the same report, we already leave plenty of forage fish in the sea. West Coast forage fisheries harvest only 2 percent of the total forage pool, leaving 98 percent in the ocean. The most important forage species on the West Coast are already well managed. The PFMC recently approved deliberative action, allowing more time for scientific analysis and the development of the most practical, effective management tools. This is a win for all, providing the most cost-effective and timely response to concerns that new fisheries might over-exploit forage species.
— Diane Pleschner-Steele, executive director, California Wetfish Producers Association
Read more via the Sacramento Bee.
Permalink | Categories Legislation, Opinion, Research, View from the Ocean on July 13, 2012 by DianePleschner | No Comments
Tags: California, California Wetfish Producers Association, CWPA, Diane Pleschner-Steele, fish, fish stocks, fishery management, fishing, forage fish, lenfest, letters to the editor, market squid, ocean protection, Pacific Fishery Management Council, research, science, west coast