It is observed that there are many predatory creatures exist in Canadian waters and so the risk for different fish stocks increases. The authority alert the crews of the British Columbia’s hake fleet that sets off to trawl the deep ocean off the West Coast later this month, to beware with the strange, voracious squid that is invading the north Pacific.
It is told that the Humboldt, or jumbo squid, is usually found off Mexico, but there is a heightened alert on the B.C. fishing grounds this year because the species has been making its way up the coast of North America, devastating hake stocks as it goes. Brian Mose, director of the Deep Sea Trawlers Association of British Columbia, said that a message has been sent to all fleet members, asking them to report any encounters they have with the large squid, which has been expanding its range both north and south.
It was in 2008 the researchers first reported a breeding population had become established off the coast of central California, where it has been linked to a crash in hake stocks. Off the coast of Chile, where prior to 2002 it was seldom seen, the squid is now supporting a commercial harvest of about 200,000 tonnes annually.
Jim Cosgrove, recently retired manager of natural history at the Royal B.C. Museum, informed that there have been so many persistent reports of jumbo squid in northern waters that it’s time a research expedition was sent to determine how many there are and where they are roaming in Canadian waters. He added that the Humboldts generally are taking smaller fishes. But if they caught salmon they eat it without giving second thought, says Cosgrove.
