SQUID HARVESTS BREAK RECORDS\Industry pushing for regulations to prevent over-fishing.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Massive schools of squid have streamed into waters off the Channel Islands in recent winters, luring boats from as far away as Alaska that are hauling record tonnages and spawning concerns about over-fishing.

Tim Sullivan brought the Pacific Rose, rigged with the latest in sonar and electronic tracking devices, from Half Moon Bay for the season, which runs October through March. A commercial fisherman for 20 of his 37 years, Sullivan, with his crew, is filling the boat's hold with 30 to 50 tons of the transparent, bug-eyed mollusks netted on most nights.

"It's been steadily increasing. We're pretty efficient," said Sullivan, who has fished for squid out of Ventura Harbor for the past five years.

The California squid fishery is the last on the West Coast with no restrictions. But with a burgeoning export market and declining East Coast catches, fishermen and seafood processors fear over-fishing of California squid could put many out of business.

In a rare cooperative effort, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Association Inc. and seafood processors are pushing for a three-year moratorium on new squid boats. Fishermen also propose paying annual licensing fees to support research that can gauge squid populations and help marine biologists figure what squid need to survive.

"I've got a big investment in this. I'm looking towards the future and not just the next year or two," Sullivan noted. "I've seen some fisheries come and go. If a fishery is left unchecked, it will be overfished."

The commercial squid catch from California is expected to match the record 60,000 tons hauled in each of the previous two seasons, with much coming out of waters stretching from Santa Catalina Island to Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands.

Fearing the advent of an annual fishing frenzy, the fishermen's association has written the proposed controls into a measure state lawmakers are expected to consider this year. If approved, the California Department of Fish and Game would regulate squid beyond merely issuing commercial fishing licenses and tracking tons landed annually.

State fish and game officials do not share the alarm over the future of squid as a commercially viable fishery. The officials, though, acknowledge they know little about the squid population, namely its size and the minimum number needed to sustain squid in the leanest years.

"It's been a fishery we really haven't had to worry about," said Marija Vojkovich, fish and game's senior marine biologist, based in Santa Barbara. "It appears like things are healthy by virtue of the numbers (caught) and that we've experienced big fluctuations in the catches throughout history."

Researchers still are developing ways to gauge the population and variety of California squid. They are hampered by the squid's elusive nature - squid only congregate for spawning and live less than two years.

"There's a lot of fluctuation. It's very tough to determine how many animals are going to be there next year to regulate," Vojkovich noted.

The Ventura County Fish and Game Commission was concerned enough about the future of the squid catch to invite Vojkovich to speak at the commission's meeting in Oxnard on Thursday. The commission is an advisory panel for the county Board of Supervisors.

"I can't reassure them about anything," Vojkovich said.

James Donlon, an avid angler and member of the county commission, said the boom in commercial squid fishing causes legitimate concern about the fate of the resource.

"My primary concern is there's very little that's known and they're not doing much about it," he explained.

The proposed controls at least would help limit the wholesale market from driving the volume of squid netted, Donlon said.

"The market has controlled the squid fishing in the past and the last two years it was a good market," he said. "I would be concerned if we kept going at this pace."

Squid season arrives when the mollusks come together to spawn on the cool, sandy bottoms off the California coast. Adult squid lay eggs between October and April off the Channel Islands and between April and October off Monterey.

Boats work after sunset, using high-powered lights to attract squid to the surface. Large seine nets are used to circle and gather squid into clusters that are sucked by an enormous vacuum into a boat's hold.

Each night's catch is driven by wholesale orders. Squid is processed by several seafood companies in Oxnard or packed in ice and shipped to Los Angeles and San Francisco, with more than 90 percent bound for export.

California squid are in demand because they are a sweet and succulent variety. Although small, with seven to 12 per pound, California squid have been bountiful, said Mike Carpenter, manager of the Sea Products Inc. in Oxnard.

"I'm not convinced that the amount of fishing now is harmful to the resource. But the direction it is heading is a reason to be concerned," Carpenter said.

"Fishing in other parts of the U.S. has fallen on hard times, so they're looking for other markets, and fishing off California in the wintertime is relatively easy," he noted.

Sea Products opened the Oxnard plant in 1992 to handle increased demand for squid, sold frozen whole, to overseas markets. The proposed controls could ensure long-term viability of the squid catch, Carpenter said.

"I have some concerns about over-fishing," he said. "On the other hand, once it's determined what level is viable, if it's determined to be higher, then I believe other boats and processors should be allowed to participate and make a buck."

The fate of California squid is the latest balancing act faced by West Coast fishermen.

Zeke Grader, executive director of the fisherman's associat'ion, compares the need to preserve California squid with the decimation of sardines and the fishing fleets that followed them.

"The idea is to find out what we have out there, find what is a sustainable level of harvest and aim for that rather than wait for a collapse," Grader said. "If we keep fishing at this level, when you're on a down cycle you could damage the resource."

Sardines sustained fishing fleets from San Pedro to San Francisco until the population collapsed in the early 1950s. Stringent fishing limits imposed then have enabled sardines to slowly recover.

Supporters of a curb on squid fishing said the legislative proposal was written in response to initial signs that there is increasing stress on the squid population. A downturn in harvesting such a valuable fishery would hurt fishing fleets and processors alike.

"If you had to do any sort of closure on squid, it causes processors to go out of business and it causes fishermen to look for other fish or sell their boats," Grader said. "You lose your market, and it's very difficult to go and get it back."

Sullivan, the squid fisherman based out of Ventura Harbor, holds out hope there will be a viable squid population for his sons to fish.

None of the boys, ages 6 to 14, has said they want to follow their father. Sullivan isn't sure he could recommend any of them attempt to earn a living from the ocean.

"There's not a real bright future in it because there's not a lot of real good management."

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PHOTO

Photo (1--color) Luz Maria Perez sorts squid for packing at Sea Products Co. in Oxnard. This year's catch is expected to match last year's record. (2--color) Fishermen and processors worry about over-fishing after two seasons of record hauls. (3) Sea Products Co. in Oxnard processes squid caught off the Channel Islands; harvests have been plentiful. Dusty Locke/Special to the Daily News