The culprit responsible for the decline of Mexico’s once lucrative jumbo squid fishery has remained a mystery, until now.
The culprit responsible for the decline of Mexico’s once lucrative jumbo squid fishery has remained a mystery, until now. A new Stanford-led study published in the ICES Journal of Marine Scienceidentifies shifting weather patterns and ocean conditions as among the reasons for the collapse, which spells trouble for the Gulf of California’s marine ecosystems and fishery-dependent economies. It could also be a sign of things to come elsewhere.
“What is happening with the jumbo squid is indicative of larger changes impacting marine organisms and ecosystems across the northeast Pacific,” said the study’s lead author, Timothy Frawley, who was a Stanford graduate student when he conducted the research. “In many respects these squid, with their unique and adaptive survival strategies, function as sentinels of environmental change.” William Gilly, professor of biology in the School of Humanities and Sciences, was senior author of the study.
Warmer waters
Also known as the Humboldt squid, these large, predatory creatures are targets of the world’s biggest invertebrate fishery, commercially fished in Peru, Chile and Baja California. In 2008 the Gulf of California jumbo squid fishery employed over 1,500 fishing vessels and was the fourth largest fishery in all of Mexico. By 2015, it had completely collapsed, and as of yet shows no sign of recovery.
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