Sunday, October 9, 2011

Saving Squid (for potential consumption later.......)

Sometimes it takes a plan a few years to come to fruition.  I am not the most patient of humans, but I wanted to share this story of a stateless vessel flouting the high seas driftnet ban which was recently apprehended by the USCG and its partners.

The vessel's name is the Bangun Perkassa, and you can find numerous stories on line about its capture if you google those two words.


borrowed from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/10/06/2011-10-06_coast_guard_seizes_pirate_fishing_boat_loaded_with_rats_and_rotting_squid_off_al.html

The international treaties that created a coalition of Canadian, US, Japanese & Chinese forces (ships and aircraft) WAY out there in the pacific were actually geared towards protecting anadromous species like salmon, but we have known for the last 5 years that most of the really bad guys have been targeting squid and other less valuable resources.

In my personal non-ichthylogical opinion, squid are much smarter than salmon, but they still aren't smart enough to avoid the giant walls of death that the driftnets really are.

Spousal unit would not eat squid for a few years after we were diving in Massachusetts and saw them breeding and attaching their eggs to some rocks in about 8 feet of water several years ago, but he later relented when some yummy calimari were provided.  He is also quite fond of the curried squid available at our local dim sum joint.