Ecosystem drivers of marine life can offer “early warning system” for fishermen.
Market squid have multiplied off the West Coast over the last two decades. They have increased especially from San Francisco north into Oregon and Washington in conjunction with warmer ocean waters in recent years, new research shows.
The squid boom is opening new commercial fishing opportunities in the Northwest. Squid landings in Oregon rose from none in 2015 to nearly 5,000 metric tons worth nearly $6 million in 2020. Market squid are the largest commercial fishery by value in California, but landings in the state dropped about the time they began appearing in substantial numbers in Oregon.
“There have been increases in the survey and commercial catches to the north, but the question is whether these are temporary or if they will continue with rising ocean temperatures,” said Brandon Chasco, a fisheries scientist at NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center based at a research station in Newport, Oregon. “The answer could be important to the shape of commercial fishing on the West Coast in the future.”
The rise of squid in the Northwest coincides with a series of marine heatwaves that has dominated the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast in the last decade.
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