‘JUMBO’ SQUID APPEARING OFF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST
Fishermen catching Humboldt variety, which can be up to 5 feet long, in large quantities off S.D.
Oceanside — Gary Robbins • U-THumboldt squid — feisty, ink-squirting creatures that periodically appear along the Southern California coast — have surged into the waters of San Diego and Orange counties, where sport fishermen are catching them by the hundreds.Sunday night, the sportfishing boat Electra out of Oceanside Harbor caught more than 200 “jumbo” squid in an hour, leading the captain to return to port early.“I have enough for a whole year,” said John Plaziak of Carlsbad, one of the fishermen.Five anglers on the Sea Trek out of Helgren’s Sportfishing in Oceanside pulled in 143 squid Saturday night, and 13 people aboard the Fishermen 3 out of H&M Landing in San Diego snagged 144.“We saw a few of them last year, but nothing in fishable quantities,” said Rick Marin, who works in the office at H&M. “It has probably been two or three years since we’ve seen a lot of them.”Greg Obymato, captain of the Sea Trek, said, “We caught the squid off San Onofre. But it looks like there’s squid from the Mexican border to Dana Point. It’s just a matter of getting on them.”Travis Reese of Carlsbad was on board the Electra in a driving rain Sunday about 7:30 p.m. “They’re a lot harder to pull up than I thought. It’s really tough, but it’s a lot of fun,” he said.Fishermen use poles and hooks with no bait. And the squid put up a whale of a fight.The squid — which can grow to about five feet in length — have long been something of a mystery. They appear unexpectedly and leave the same way. Usually, they stay offshore. But sometimes they wash up on local beaches, as they did in July 2009 in La Jolla Shores. Fishermen love going after them because the squid put up quite a fight, and they often squirt ink when they’re pulled aboard.“The squirting is like having a fire hose trained on you,” Plaziak said.Fishermen usually catch these cephalopods at night. Jumbo squid are vertical migrators; they generally move up and down in the ocean, and they’re typically at or near the surface when it’s dark.And, yes, you can eat Humboldt squid.Full story here
Giant Squid Invade Off Dana Point Coast
DANA POINT, Calif. (KTLA) — Giant squid have been appearing along the Dana Point coastline in recent weeks.Most of the squid, known as Humboldt squid, weigh between 3 and 5 pounds.However, local fishermen have been known to catch squid weighing as much as 25-pounds in the past.The last giant squid run was in Sept. 2011, according to Donna Kalez, general manager of Dana Wharf Sportfishing.Most of the squid have been found 3 to 4 miles from the harbor and about 2 miles off the beach.Watch video here
El Niños Are Highly Unpredictable
El Niño events are not as predictable as scientists thought. The frequency and strength of the ocean-warming climate phenomenon
were more variable during the 20th century than, on average, during the preceding 7000 years, according to new analyses of climate records locked within ancient corals. The finding largely discounts the idea that certain long-term variations in Earth's orbit strongly influence the climate-maker, scientists say."This will be a shock for many paleoclimatologists," says Axel Timmermann, a climate scientist at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, in Honolulu who wasn't involved in the new research. "[These findings] are a stark contrast to their ideas."El Niños are marked by substantially warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific. These events—along with their alter egos La Niñas, which are defined by cooler-than-average sea-surface temperatures in the same region—steer weather patterns across large swaths of the globe, baking some areas while drowning others. Together, these phenomena are called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In modern times, El Niños occur once every 2 to 7 years; sometimes they're strong and long-lasting, and other times they're brief and mild.Read the full article here.
Department Name Change Effective January 1, 2013
Media Contact:Jordan Traverso, DFG Communications, (916) 654-9937The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will become the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), effective Jan. 1.The new name was mandated by AB 2402, which was signed Sept. 25 by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and is one of numerous provisions passed into law during 2012 that affect the department.“The name of the department was changed to better reflect our evolving responsibilities,” said Department Director Charlton H. Bonham. “As our role has grown to meet 21st century expectations, we remain committed to our traditional responsibilities and to honoring our deep roots in California’s natural resources legacy.”Traditionally known as game wardens, the department’s law enforcement staff will now be called wildlife officers.Californians will notice new Internet (www.wildlife.ca.gov) and email addresses for CDFW employees. The old URL and email addresses will continue to work indefinitely.Many department materials will continue to bear the old name because AB 2402 reduced the cost associated with the name change by preventing CDFW from undergoing a wholesale turnover of materials, including signs, uniforms and supplies.The mission of the department continues to be “to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.”In furtherance of that mission, the department carries out numerous responsibilities related to the commercial, recreational, educational and scientific use and enjoyment of California’s natural resources.News from CDFW News
Humboldt squid “mass suicide” strandings may be result of red tide intoxication
By Tia Ghose - December 17, 2012 -Thousands of jumbo squid have beached themselves on central California shores this week, committing mass "suicide." But despite decades of study into the phenomenon in which the squid essentially fling themselves onto shore, the cause of these mass beachings have been a mystery.But a few intriguing clues suggest poisonous algae that form so-called red tides may be intoxicating the Humboldt squid and causing the disoriented animals to swim ashore in Monterey Bay, said William Gilly, a marine biologist at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, Calif.Each of the strandings has corresponded to a red tide, in which algae bloom and release an extremely potent brain toxin, Gilly said. This fall, the red tides have occurred every three weeks, around the same time as the squid beachings, he said. (The squid have been stranding in large numbers for years, with no known cause.)Read the full story here.
Hundreds of Humboldt squid wash up on Aptos area beaches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UTB0uIZ4zYcAPTOS -- Hundreds of Humboldt squid washed up on Santa Cruz County beaches Sunday in a mass stranding that is not uncommon but remains somewhat of a mystery to marine scientists.The even more intriguing question, they say, is why the voracious feeders, also called jumbo flying squid, began venturing up to the Central Coast in 2000 from the Sea of Cortez and other warmer spots -- and what their effect is on the ocean environment.As for the stranding, Hopkins University researcher William Gilly said mass strandings are common when squid invade a new area. In late October, about 100 washed up in Pacific Grove.They stop if squid colonize successfully or leave the area, Gilly said, a pattern common on the West Coast between 2002-2009."My theory is that when the squid invade a new area -- they are returning to Monterey Bay for the first time in nearly three years, and the squid are only 8 or 9 months old -- they follow an algorithm (which is to) swim and find productive areas, especially by investigating anomalies, until you run into trouble," he said. "That mission takes some of them onto the beach. The question I can't answer is why they stop doing this after they successfully colonize an area. Perhaps the real pioneers are selected out, or maybe the survivors of a stranding go back to sea and warn the others."Read the full article.
Soybean Diets for Farmed Fish
**West coast CPS 'forage' harvest is strictly limited to leave most fish in the ocean, so innovative fish farmers are developing alternative feeds to provide high quality seafood for restaurants and seafood consumers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNmwy76AXqE What is the future of seafood?A new video, funded by the U.S. soybean industry, takes us behind the scenes to what could become the beginning of a "green" fish-farming revolution."The video shows folks that industry is concerned about sustainability and that research is being conducted to address potential problems with cage farming," said Donald Kent, president of Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego. "Sea Grant and NOAA should take some credit for making this a possibility."Fish farmers at the innovative Pacifico Aquaculture are raising white sea bass, yellowtail and other premium finfish species in floating open-ocean cages near Isla Todos Santos (a famous big wave surf spot) off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico. The farm has recently earned a "best aquaculture practices" certification for all its green efforts.Read the full article.
Deal brings end to L.A., Long Beach ports strike
Clerical workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will return to work Wednesday, ending a strike that crippled America's busiest shipping hub for more than a week.Leaders of the 800-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit agreed to a tentative deal after marathon negotiations that ended late Tuesday. The deal will not become final until it is ratified by the full union membership.It ends a grueling battle between both sides that threatened to damage the fragile U.S. economy. Since the strike began, 20 ships diverted to rival ports in Oakland, Ensenada and Panama, while other freighters docked offshore waiting for a resolution."This was at a critical juncture," said Jock O'Connell, an international trade economist. "The national economy is still trying to get on its feet and this strike would have been decidedly unhelpful. There are enough head winds out there already.View video and full article here.