Cape Town - Squid catches off our coast are at an all-time low and scientists cannot say why.
But calamari lovers need not worry: no South African squid ends up in local shops and restaurants. It is all exported, mainly to Europe, where they are prepared to pay top dollar.
South African squid is considered to be one of the best-tasting calamari in the world.
In turn South Africa imports lower quality European squid and South African palates apparently cannot tell the difference.
While calamari lovers will be unaffected, the squid fishing industry is having a tough time. Some squid boats are not going to sea, while those that do are fishing at a loss.
Crew are battling because they are paid commission based on the size of the catch. Most of the squid are caught off the Eastern Cape and Garden Route coast.
Dino Moodaley, chairman of the SA Squid Management Industrial Association, said that in 2011 catches were bad and last year catches were 50 percent lower than the previous year.
“This is an all-time low since the long-term rights allocations. Normally we catch about 7 000 to 8 000 tons a year, but last year we got only around 3 500 to 4 000 tons. If this year doesn’t pick up it will be even worse than 2012,” Moodaley said.
Fisheries consultant Shaheen Moolla believes the drop in catches is because the authorities did not reduce the number of boats allowed to catch squid. This was a recommendation in 2005. “It’s mismanagement. There are no fish left.”
Warwick Sauer, head of ichthyology and fisheries management at Rhodes University, said because of problems with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ research vessel the Africana, they had been unable to do research surveys for some time, which made pinpointing the cause difficult.
“There are two possibilities: either the squid are very dispersed across the Agulhas Bank… or there has been very low recruitment – the eggs didn’t hatch or the babies died before they could grow into adults,” Sauer said.
Sauer confirmed that when the long-term fishing rights had been allocated it had been recommended that the number of squid boats and crew be cut. “If there has been a recruitment failure and vessels are fishing what is left, that could exacerbate the problem.”