NOAA Fisheries’ scientific stock assessments are critical to modern fisheries management. Using data gathered from commercial and recreational fishermen and our own on-the-water scientific observations, a stock assessment describes the past and current status of a fish population or stock, answers questions about the size of the stock, and makes predictions about how a fishery will respond to current and future management measures.
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.
Market squid create one of California’s most valuable fisheries. Due to its high quality as a fishery product, these squid are much sought-after by seafood traders around the world. In fact, California has become one of the world’s biggest squid suppliers. A growing taste for squid in restaurants has created a demand that now exceeds supply. As a result, the value of squid is on the rise. Check out the video below on the value of market squid in Monterey Bay from the perspective of a scientist, a student, a restauranteur, and fisherman.
A Native California Species:
Several species of market squid inhabit the world’s oceans. However, California’s species (Doryteuthis opalescens) is native to the Pacific coast of North America. These squid range from Baja (Mexico) to southeastern Alaska. The biogeographic distribution of market squid is similar to Pacific salmon and steelhead trout, which are also native to California.
Market Squid Fishery Management:
Squid catch is landed at six California ports. The fishery is divided into northern and southern regions. The northern fishery is active from April – September while fishing operations in the south run from October to March.
Monterey Bay and the Channel Islands form the centers of the northern and southern market squid fisheries in California. Today, these centers lie within two marine sanctuaries. Several Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Preserves have been established on traditional squid fishing grounds, as well. Commercial fishing in these areas is now limited or restricted. One benefit of MPAs and marine preserves is to create replenishment areas for market squid and other fishery species. In the case of Año Nuevo, which is an island known for its elephant seal and sea lion rookeries, restrictions help ensure adequate squid for the diets of these federally protected marine mammals.
California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is responsible for managing the market squid resource. Goals of the Market Squid Fishery Management Plan are:
1.) to ensure long-term sustainability and conservation of the resource, and
2.) develop a management framework that is responsive to environmental and socio-economic changes.
Eating tuna could boost memory and slow age-related mental decline, say researchers from Harvard Medical School.
They looked at the diet of 6,000 women with an average age of 72 and monitored them for nearly ten years, measuring their memory and mental ability at different points.
The women who ate tuna, mackerel or swordfish once a week had significantly better verbal memory compared to women who did not regularly eat the fish. There were no links between memory and consumption of light-meat fish or shellfish. It’s thought the benefits are down to the high omega-3 content in tuna and mackerel — other studies suggest this may help boost memory.
On a recent weekday morning, Daniel Pondella strode along a century-old stretch of concrete pylons and shabby warehouses in San Pedro.
As kelp swayed in the waves and terns circled overheard, Pondella recalled an elementary school field trip he took 40 years ago to this gritty wharf known as City Dock 1: “That was the day I decided to become a marine biologist.”
Now, Pondella is involved in transforming the wharf into a marine research center at the heart of the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s busiest.
When City Dock 1 opened in 1913, it turned on a spigot for the Southern California economy through which $283 billion a year in international commerce now flows. Plans call for it to be converted into a nexus of laboratories and classrooms, fish hatcheries and berths for research vessels, which will explore the flows of Pacific currents, solutions to oceanic pollution and coastal erosion, and the rhythms of sea creatures from bacteria to 150-ton blue whales.
SAN PEDRO, CA – JUNE 4, 2013: Daniel Pondella , director of new Southern California Marine Institute,walks along the old wharf near the old historic Terminal Superintendents building and cleaned up chemical tank farm in the background on June 4, 2013 in San Pedro,California. The century-old City Dock 1 will soon be transformed into the 28- acre marine research center.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Ocean plants produce some 50% of the planet’s oxygen. Seawater absorbs a quarter of the carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere. Ocean currents distribute heat around the globe, regulating weather patterns and climate. And, for those who take pleasure in life’s simple rewards, a seaweed extract keeps your peanut butter and ice cream at the right consistency!
Nonetheless, those of us who can’t see the ocean from our window still feel a disconnect—because the ocean feels far away, it’s easy to forget the critical role the ocean plays in human life and to think that problems concerning the ocean will only harm those people that fish or make their living directly from the sea. But this isn’t true: the sea is far more important than that.
Every year, scientists learn more about the top threats to the ocean and what we can do to counter them. So for tomorrow’s World Oceans Day, here’s a run-down of what we’ve learned just in the past 12 months.
Certain females consume male ejaculate and sperm as if they were food, using the nutrients to fuel their own bodies as well as their eggs, according to new research.
The study, published in the journal Biology Letters, adds yet another dimension to the battle between the sexes.
“If males have their sperm consumed, rather than used for egg fertilization, they will lose that reproductive opportunity. Therefore, it is in the male’s best interests to try to ensure at least some of his sperm reaches the female’s eggs,” lead author Benjamin Wegener, a researcher at Monash University’s School of Biological Sciences, explained to Discovery News.
Acidifying oceans could dramatically impact the world’s squid species, according to a new study led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers and soon to be published in the journal PLOS ONE. Because squid are both ecologically and commercially important, that impact may have far-reaching effects on the ocean environment and coastal economies, the researchers report.
“Squid are at the center of the ocean ecosystem—nearly all animals are eating or eaten by squid,” says WHOI biologist T. Aran Mooney, a co-author of the study. “So if anything happens to these guys, it has repercussions down the food chain and up the food chain.”
Research suggests that ocean acidification and its repercussions are the new norm. The world’s oceans have been steadily acidifying for the past hundred and fifty years, fueled by rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Seawater absorbs some of this CO2, turning it into carbonic acid and other chemical byproducts that lower the pH of the water and make it more acidic. As CO2 levels continue to rise, the ocean’s acidity is projected to rise too, potentially affecting ocean-dwelling species in ways that researchers are still working to understand.
Mooney and his colleagues—lead author Max Kaplan, then an undergraduate student from the University of St. Andrews in the U.K. and now a WHOI graduate student, and WHOI scientists Daniel McCorkle and Anne Cohen—decided to study the impact of acidifying seawater on squid. Over the summer of 2011, Mooney and Kaplan gathered male and female Atlantic longfin squid (Loligo pealeii) from the waters of Vineyard Sound and transported them to a holding tank in the WHOI Environmental Systems Laboratory. When these squid mated and the females laid their egg capsules—each of which can contain 200 to 300 fertilized eggs—the researchers transferred some of the capsules to one of two smaller tanks filled with Vineyard Sound seawater.
Adult Atlantic longfin squid (Loligo pealeii) are ecologically and economically important in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The research team gathered adult squid in Vineyard Sound to study how their hatchlings respond to normal and acidified ocean conditions in the lab. (Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Permalink | Categories Breaking News on June 4, 2013 by DianePleschner | Comments Off on Acidifying Oceans Could Spell Trouble for Squid Tags: research, squid, study
