Nov 21 2011

Another Banner Year for Market Squid

'Squid' photo (c) 2011, Toshiyuki IMAI - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

By Danna Staaf

The California market squid fishery is about to be closed for the second time in its entire history.

That may sound bad, but it’s actually a sign of a booming business. The annual quota for market squid is 118,000 tonnes, a number so high that for years no one was sure it would ever be reached. But just last year, an abundance of squid led the fishery to be closed on December 17th, and this year it’s due to close a month earlier: November 18th.

It’s worth remembering that this fishery follows a boom-and-bust cycle, and the science behind the squid is poorly understood. Last year I interviewed two squid scientists (former co-workers of mine) for an article in the Monterey Weekly, and came away with this:

Read the rest on Science 2.0.

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