May 16, 2018
Save The Squid
Squid have a brief life cycle; they grow rapidly from birth, reproduce and then die in approximately one-year time. They are an elusive species commonly found 1,000 feet below the surface or near the bottom of the ocean floor making them more difficult to catch than other seafood species. Few squid fisheries are recognized as sustainable leaving plenty of room for growth and improvement in the future.
Beaver Street Fisheries (BSF) is a member of the Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable. The roundtable was created in March of 2017 as two former supplier roundtables (SRs) merged, one with locations spanning Asia-Pacific and one covering South American squid fisheries. A new Chinese squid fishery improvement project (FIP) was announced earlier this year. The Shantou-Taiwan Chinese common squid FIP will concentrate on improving harvest monitoring and training as well as using more sustainable fishing methods with focus on jigging and single trawl gears.
As a stakeholder of this latest squid FIP, Beaver Street Fisheries hopes to gather more acknowledgement and support from the seafood industry in supporting sustainable squid fishing. Casey Marion, the Director of Sustainability Initiatives at Beaver Street Fisheries explains in an interview with Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, “We are excited about this FIP because sustainable squid production can be an elusive goal, and the learnings we gain here can help the industry in other fisheries”. He goes on to say, “With squid being a big part of the Target 75 initiative, we are enthusiastic that more global stakeholders will get on board to help support this FIP.”
The Shantou-Taiwan Chinese common squid FIP’s goal is to meet the requirements of MSC certification by December 2019.
Additional information about related initiatives can be found on these websites:
fisheryprogress.org/fip-profile/shantou-taiwan-chinese-common-squid-jiggingsingle-trawl
