TIMES ARE TOUGH FOR SQUID BOATERS.

Byline: Associated Press 

Squid fishermen whose catches dwindled due to the effects of the El Nino ocean-warming phenomenon are complaining of difficulty in getting federal disaster loans.

``This isn't working the way it's supposed to,'' said David Starbuck, whose boat, The Miss Julie, is due to be foreclosed on next month. ``It's not working for anybody and now we're out selling our cars and anything else that's valuable just to pay a bill.''

Since the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program was started in April, the U.S. Small Business Administration has denied low-interest loans to more than 73 percent of all fishermen who have applied, said Becky Brantley, a Washington, D.C.-based loan officer who oversees the West Coast region.

She said that most of the fishermen were denied loans because they failed to prove that they could repay the money.

Those fishermen said the SBA is relying on flawed accounting formulas that inflate costs and underestimate the value of the state's catch, making it impossible for them or the industry as a whole to show a profit.

According to industry and government estimates, the squid harvest has plummeted from more than 257 million pounds caught over last year's six-month season to almost nothing this year as warm coastal waters drove squid to colder waters farther out to sea.

In December alone only 2,515 pounds of market squid was netted off California, compared to the nearly 45 million pounds caught during the same month in 1996.

SBA loan officers have approved 33 low-interest loans totaling a little more than $1 million, Brantley said. An additional 89 applications were rejected. The agency is expected to rule on 134 more applications within three weeks.