The Foreign Squid Fishery Off the Northeast United States Coast
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The Foreign Squid Fishery Off the Northeast United States Coast DAVID J. KOLATOR and DOUGLAS P LONG Introduction 1977. This act establishes exclusive were used to determine the seasonal fishery management authority for the fishing vessel concentrations. Catch Squid has long been a popular food United States within the sea adjOining and effort data were gathered from the fish in the foreign market and thus a territorial waters and extending off biweekly and weekly catch reports highly sought marine resource by the shore some 197 miles. required of each vessel. foreign fishing fleet. Foreign vessels One of the regulations issued under began reporting incidental catches of Historical Background the FCMA requires that each foreign squid off the northeast U.S. coast In United States fishermen have been vessel fishing within the U.S. 200-mile 1964, with directed fisheries starting landing squid on its northeast coast limit maintain a detailed daily log of its in 1968. During the past 5 years, the since the 1880's. According to Lyles operations. As a check of the accu~acy foreign fleet has taken an average of (1968), most squid have been taken and completeness of this informatIon, 50000 metric tons (t) of squid per year. incidental to fishing for other specIes. the United States is authorized to place The 1978 optimum yield of squid has These catches were and still are prima a fishery observer aboard each foreign been set at 79,000 t (29,000 t of !/Iex, rily taken on inshore grounds. In the vessel. short-finned squid, and 19,000 t of earlier fishery, otter trawls and fish Usually the observer is placed on Loligo, long-finned S4uid, foreign traps were the principal harvesting board for a 2- to J-week period. During allocation). This leaves 31,000 t of gear, but with the declining trap this time he will monitor the compli squid for exploitation by the U.S. fishery, otter trawls have become the ance of the vessel with U.S. fishery fishing industry. dominant capture gear. regulations and take biological sam A great deal of interest has been The American fishermen have yet to ples. The total costs of placing an generated in the New England and exploit the offshore squid stocks. observer aboard foreign vessels are Middle Atlantic area for the develop Probable cause for this is the lack of a borne by the owners and operators of ment of a domestic squid fishery. The substantial domestic market. In fact these vessels. When the observer New England Fisheries Development S4uid were thrown out on the farm Program ( 1977) Report of Progress for completes his assigned tasks for the day fields as fertilizer or used for bait in the or the vessel suspends fishing opera 1977 outlined the problems of develop early 1900's. Even today a good tions, many hours are spent in convers ing a domestic squid fishery. One portion of the sljuid landing~ is used .for ing with the ship's captain and crew. It problem was the limited .experience by bait. With landing restnctlons being is through these informal conversa U.S. fishermen in captunng sljuld. The placed on cod, haddock, and other tions that one becomes familiar with following is a presentation of the finfish, fishermen are now considering vessel operations and captains' views foreign sljuid fishery off the northeast the development of a directed squid on squid fishing. ern U.S. coast. The objective of these fishery. In addition to observer-generated observations is to increase the aware Documentation of U.S. squid land data, information pertaining to the ness of foreign S4uid fishing practices ings prior to 1928 is sparse. As typical characteristics of foreign fishing vessels and to abet the development of a In any fishery, the landings and ex was obtained from the re4uired vessel domestic squid fishery along the vessel value fluctuate from year to year. permit forms. Data provided by U.S. eastern U. S. coast. However, the squid fishery has shown Coast Guard surveillance op~ratlons a general increase in value over the past Methods 5 years (Table I). From New England The Fishery Conservation and waters in 1976,6.2 million pounds were Management Act (FCMA) of 1976 harvested and were valued at $1.1 (U.S. Department of Commerce, David J. Kolator and Douglas P. I.ong are with million (New England Fisheries Devel the Gloucester Laboratory, ;o.<ortheast Flshenes 1977a), commonly referred to as the Center, National Marine Fisheries SerVice, opment Program, 1977). 200-mile limit, took effect on I March "IOAA. PO, 80;; 1109. Gloucester. MA 01930. In 1958 Soviet research vessels began Jull' 1979 Table 1.-Northeast Unlled Slales commercial landings texture qualities. This is reflected by of squid, 1928-77' in Ihousands of pounds and Ihousands making exploratory cruises to investi of dollars. gate the possibility of a directed squid the greater catches of Loligo over //lex fishery off the northeastern U.S. coast by foreign vessels (Tables 3, 4). Also, Year Quantity Value Year Quantity Value (Ucinski, 1973). The actual exploita Loligo brings two to three times the 1928 '7.927 '157 1953 5.619 281 1929 6,731 170 1954 3.619 152 tion of squid did not begin until 1964 price of //lex on the foreign market. 1930 7.505 175 1955 4.135 178 when the U.S.S.R. reported taking 4 t 1931 5.415 116 1956 3.047 169 Foreign Vessels 1932 5.634 83 1957 6.012 240 of squid as incidental catch. The 1933 2.012 38 1958 4.333 204 Soviets remained the only foreign In 1977 (after I July), 95 vessels 1934 '114 '4 1959 3.644 226 1935 6.256 129 1960 3.602 263 national fishing squid off our coast representing 5 foreign nations were 1936 '122 '4 1961 3.336 250 until 1967 when they were joined by the engaged in the squid fishery off the 1937 5.833 111 1962 4,734 295 1938 4.563 66 1963 4.642 280 Japanese. In 1969 Spain entered the northeast U.S. coast. All but 10 of 1939 6.142 123 1964 2.175 167 these vessels were stern trawlers, with 1940 4.673 76 1965 2.522 193 fishery, and was joined by Poland and 1941 '283 '4 1966 2.606 217 Italy in 1972. These five countries Spain being the only country to use 1942 2.003 103 1967 3,795 216 1943 '2.132 '168 1968 3.666 236 became the major harvesters of squid side trawlers. The Japanese had the 1944 2.021 159 1969 3.224 313 off our northeast coast, with Spain and oldest vessels working here, which were 1945 3,402 207 1970 2.283 280 1946 '1.186 '66 1971 2.705 354 Japan being dominant. Bulgaria, 18 years of age, while Spain and Italy 1947 2,482 163 1972 2.888 427 Canada, Cuba, the Federal Republic added some newer vessels. Figures I 1948 4.555 349 1973 3.862 764 1949 6.924 225 1974 5.325 987 of Germany, the German Democratic through 5 depict the design of fishing 1950 2,435 123 1975 '3,602 '390 vessels used by certain countries. 1951 5.595 275 1976 '8,381 '1.549 Republic, Ireland, and Romania have 1977 '5.337 '1.390 also reported taking smaller amounts Poland had the largest vessel in the 'Adapted from Lyles (1968) lor 1928-1967 and Nat,onal of squid (Table 2). fleet measuring 285 feet (87 m) long, Marine F'she"es Service (1971-77 1976-78) 2Partial totals. Loligo is the preferred squid over while a Soviet BMRT had a gross 3Prelimlnary totals. //lex because of its better taste and tonnage of 3,697 t. Spain had the smallest vessel, being 112 feet (34 m) long. The Soviet Union was the only Table 2.-Reported squid (no species) landings In metric tons off the northeastern nation to have women aboard their U.S. coast', vessels, and they comprised 10 percent Year Spain Italy Japan U.S.S.R Poland U.S A Other Total of the crew on a BMRT class vessel. 1963 2.111 2.111 Characteristics for each type of foreign 1964 4 989 993 fishing vessel mentioned in this section 1965 176 1.161 1.337 1966 389 1.'73 1.562 are given in Table 5. 1967 7 833 1.829 2.669 1968 1.734 3.176 1.762 10 6.682 Trawl Gear 1969 566 7.711 1.340 1,461 1 11.079 1970 4,426 13.639 1.065 1.061 20 20.211 1971 6.770 10.602 6.138 1.182 91 24,783 Trawl gear used in the squid fishery 1972 10.545 3.200 18.691 6.976 5,428 1.197 1.338 47.375 off the northeast U.S. coast varied as 1973 14,932 3.165 15.526 8.977 9.199 1.635 3.334 56,768 1974 16.144 4.260 16.820 8.495 6,709 2.422 628 55.478 the national background of the fisher 1975 9,902 4.234 13.985 8.928 6.836 1,728 6.074 51.687 1976 13.200 4,421 8.285 7.644 6,756 3.831 6.083 50.220 men themselves. Documentation ofthe _19.:.:7_7__1_3.:.:,4_38__4.:...1_8.:..3_12.:.:,7_3_4_--=8.:.:.0_1.:..0 88_8__2._5_53__'1_0_2_4_1.908 exact types of nets used has been 'As reported to ICNAF (1966-1977. 1978a. b). 'Taken prior to 1 July 1977 Table 3.-Reported Lollgo landings In metric tons off the northeastern Table 4.-Reported Illex landings In metric Ions oil the northeastern U.S.