A team from India’s Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has discovered a massive resource of unexploited oceanic squids in the Arabian Sea. For the fishing sector of the State, it is a gold mine since the oceanic squid (Cephalopoda), also known as purple-back flying squid and deep-sea flying squid, is a prized seafood delicacy with tremendous export potential.
The discovery was made during the course of a five-year study sponsored by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research at a cost of over Rs.5 crore as a follow-up to a more than two-decade-old report by researchers from the erstwhile USSR.
There were reports of occasional catch in small quantities of these squids by long-liners from the Arabian Sea.
K.S. Mohamed, head of the CMFRI’s Molluscan Fisheries Division who led the study, told The Hindu that estimates peg the oceanic squid resource in the central Arabian Sea region at 1.5 million tonnes. About 70 per cent of that could be sustainably harvested.
According to a CMFRI report submitted to the Union government earlier this year, there is virtually no contribution from Indian waters to the production of oceanic squid which formed more than 86 per cent of the squid varieties harvested worldwide. China, Korea and Taiwan are harvesting a small quantity from the Indian Ocean.
Dr. Mohamed said the study had termed oceanic squid as the master of the Arabian Sea due to its high abundance, large size, short life span, faster growth and near monopoly of the higher position in the food chain.
Flying’ squid
During the daytime the squid descends to depths of 800 m to 1,200 m and rises to depths of 250 m to 300 m during the night for feeding. That is the best time to harvest them. To escape from its predators, the oceanic squid leaps out of the water almost flying.
These squids are not harvested due to inadequate information on its abundance, distribution and lack of skill in squid jigging techniques. The study has proposed diversifying into distant-water squid jigging operations for the unexploited oceanic squids in the Arabian Sea, he said.
2014, The Hindu