MARKET SQUID RESEARCH PROGRAM UPDATE

RESEARCH RATIONALE

The market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) fishery is the economic driver of California’s historic wetfish industry, which relies on a group of coastal pelagic species (CPS) including sardines, mackerels and anchovy as well as squid. In turn, the CPS complex produces more than 80 percent of commercial seafood landings statewide, and represents close to 40 percent of statewide dockside (ex-vessel) value. See CDFW Table 15, Pounds and Ex-vessel Dollars by Area, for individual years by clicking on this link https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Commercial/Landings, then click on the individual year and scroll down to Table 15. This landings page also includes preliminary landings data from individual ports.

California’s wetfish industry has been actively involved in research since the beginning of the California Cooperative Fishery Investigations (CalCOFI) in the late 1940s. The nonprofit California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA) continues the tradition as a research partner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC).

Recognizing the importance of market squid to both the ecosystem and California’s fishing economy, CWPA implemented a field research program for market squid in 2005 in southern California (where on average 80 percent of landings occur), after sponsoring a workshop including state and federal fishery scientists and fishermen in 2004. The National Marine Fisheries Service provided the initial grant to develop our squid research protocol, based on research recommendations from the workshop. CWPA continued funding the program after the grant and our collaborative research continues to evolve, now focusing primarily on assessing squid paralarvae occurrence and abundance in relationship to environmental factors through seasonal bongo net tows near known squid spawning grounds.

CWPA’s squid scientist Joel VanNoord now directs our research program, as we continue to collect data following the CalCOFI quarterly cruise schedule. CWPA expanded and standardized our survey area in 2011 and again in 2014, and now sample squid paralarvae in bongo net tows at 45 sites in the Southern California Bight and Monterey Bay (Fig #1).

(Fig. 1 Station map indicating the approximately 43 California sampling stations in the collaborative CWPA & SWFSC squid research program. The coastwide network of marine protected areas is displayed by shades of green. Pink circles indicate bongo stations to sample squid paralarvae, red symbols indicate stations where bongo tows and water chemistry samples are aquired.)

CWPA’s squid studies encompassed the recent market squid population ‘boom’ during strong La Niña conditions 2010-2013. The following update summarizes preliminary findings.