Is There a Squid in Your Future?

Résumé du livre

Preliminary work during 1976 has shown that there are many squid along the northwest coast of the Gulf, and that the best capture method is trawling during the day on the Continental Shelf. Although we are using a relatively small net for a short duration tow, we have at times caught enough squid to indicate that they are sufficiently numerous to support a small fishery. When we are able to correlate their distribution and abundance to physical parameters such as temperature, salinity and substrate, then long duration, high-speed tows with large trawls in likely areas may produce commercial quantities. In bays and near shore, Lolliguncula brevis is caught in abundance by bait shrimpers who keep only a few for bait and discard the rest. This animal has a fine flavor and is a potential food item. Loligo plei is found in a broad band in depths of 9 to 33 fm, the areas most fished by shrimpers at night. By trawling during the day shrimpers could supplement their income. In Galveston, the California squid Loligo opalescens is sold as a food item in fish markets. Loligo plei and Loligo pealei are almost identical in size, shape and texture and there is no apparent reason why they could not be sold. L. pealei occurs in the deeper, outer shelf areas that are not well explored and it is worth looking at this area since this squid is known to occur in large numbers off the northeast, coast of the United States. Night lighting, squid jigging, and seining remain as potentially fruitful capture methods for squid, but a great deal more exploratory work must be done. When resource availability is better determined in the Gulf of Mexico, then progress being made in the fisheries of California, the northeast, and worldwide can be assimilated into development plans. The squid fisheries are clearly one of the real opportunities of the future.