Oh to be on the water...

So we are unable fish.  We are on strike - still - again - I think.  But regardless, the weather is crap and doesnt look to improve until the weekend at the earliest.  So we have a few more small maintenance things to work on and they we are ready to go.  I have to admit, I am now looking forward to fishing again.  Hopefully we will be able to work out the issues as it relates to price.  Now that I think of it - how is this not illegal collusion by the markets?  The markets are working together in an effort to keep they price they pay the fishermen down.  Sounds like agreements in restraint of trade to me...  OK - enough of that, I am going to eat some dinner and wait for the ability to make a living.  Til then, I will work on my garden, watch some playoff basketball and put miles on my truck....

Recent events – on and off the water: Squid at Central Coast, Strike, & AB-1299

Once again, rumors of catchable squid arose from the Central Coast.  Once again, few people paid it any heed.  Evidently, there is some truth to these rumors.  Second hand reports tell of deliveries of 70 tons on Tuesday and 100 on Wednesday.  There was also a meeting held on Wednesday with the processors in Monterey.  The fishermen were trying to get a commitment from the markets surrounding price.  Evidently the meeting did not go well and we are supposedly on strike … again.  In my post of March 26 I alluded to the fact that we, as a group, are almost never successful in using work stoppages effectively.  So while we are today on strike, I am fairly certain it won’t last.  Update – 12:35PM and I just got off the phone with someone who was there – in Monterey.  Evidently the presence of a group of San Pedro fishermen went a long way towards uniting the resolve of the fishermen.  Those who made deliveries on Tuesday and Wednesday stayed in on Wednesday night.  Most of the participating seiners have been contacted and are prepared to hold fast.  The fish that was delivered was beautiful eight count squid, so that may tip the scales in our favor as the demand for this bigger fish is typically higher.  So gotta converse with the partner boat and see what the future holds.  My 2011 commercial license is at the ready, my bags are packed and boat is all fueled up.  Time will tell…

Now on to the meat of this post – AB 1299.  On April 12, Assembly Bill 1299, the Forage Species Conservation and Management Act of 2011, made it through the Water Parks and Wildlife Committee along party lines and currently sits with the appropriation committee.  AB 1299 was authored by Assemblymember Jared Huffman.  Actually, it was prepared and written by Oceana, Inc and presented to Huffman for his sponsorship in getting the bill passed.  If you wish to view the language click the following link - http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_1251-1300/ab_1299_bill_20110411_amended_asm_v97.pdf.  Interestingly, in 2008 a similar bill (AB-2172) was presented to the State legislature and died in committee.  Here is a link to AB-2172.  Amazing how the two different authors – Plescia in 2008 and Huffman in 2011 – can use virtually the same language.  http://www.pcouncil.org/bb/2008/0408/C2a_ATT8.pdf.

Passing through the Committee does not a law make.  As this bill represents an unfunded mandate, it must pass through the appropriations committee.  We all know that California isn’t the most financially secure State, so the hope is that the bill will die here. 

There are plenty of smarter people than I working to stop this from becoming law.  Among the arguments I have seen – these ring the most logical:

·         This bill attempts to pull an 'end-around' our already ultra-precautionary fishery management process, ignores peer-reviewed science and the progress now underway at the Pacific Fishery Management Council to develop a California Current Ecosystem Fishery Management Plan, and attempts to force DFG and the FG Commission to set standards that no fishery could meet.  

·         AB 1299 is redundant, duplicative, unnecessary, and wasteful of taxpayer dollars and time...  

·         The definition of “forage species” is vague and could, conceivably, cover species not considered.  Theoretically, a salmon could be deemed a forage species as it survives on plankton when young and is targeted by orcas and sea lions when larger.

Let’s hope that good science and logic win out over emotion and fear.  The fisheries management in California is already amongst the world’s most revered.  No need to fix that which isn’t broken!

Hurry up and wait...

Not much to report - in fact, nothing to report.  Since my last entry there have been no changes.  Still no squid and the weather has remained an issue.  More and more of the northern based boats have either begun their long journeys north, or are in final preparations for doing so.  There are scattered reports of small bait spots at Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz.  These spots dont have commercial volume and the quality of the fish is not great.  The fish is on the small side (15 - 17 count) and it is spawned out - meaning the outer layer of skin is scarred and the females are without their egg sacks.  There area also reports that the salmon being caught in and around Monterey have squid in their diet.  This may soon change as there appears to be a biomass of anchovy moving into that area.  The southern locations - Catalina, San Clemente and the coastline between Rocky Point and La Jolla are showing no signs of improvement.  As my prior post highlights - this is normal for this time of the year.  Panic is beginning to set in with some vessels - why those who are knowledgeable of the fishery arent worried at all..

Onward to more maintenance chores so that when the season begins we are ready to partake.

Update - Sunday, April 3, 2011

Another supposed work night - and yet no work.  Evidently we could fish if we wanted - meaning there isnt a strike; but that could be the direct result of a serious lack of fish.  The entire California Coastline between La Jolla and Monterey has been explored over the past week.  While we cannot agree on a stategy to deal with the markets, we are all in agreement that there is a definite lack of squid at the present time.  This isnt that big of a shock based on to records provided on the California Department of Fish and Game's website (see: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/fishing.asp).  In April of 2009, the following market areas accounted for the following pounds delivered:
 

Market Area	Landings – pounds	Landings – tons
Monterey	444,338	222
Ventura	1,264,193	632
Los Angeles	5, 912	2 ½

For 2008, the following numbers were reported.

Market Area	Landings – pounds	Landings – tons
Monterey	0	0
Ventura	3	0
Los Angeles	372,017	186

Note:  Figures for 2010 have not been made available on the DFG’s website. 

Many of the out-of-state fishermen who left their boats in California in anticipation of a big opener are beginning to consider moving their boats back to their home states in order to participate or prepare to participate in whatever fishery they normally would be doing – Salmon, Herring, Sardine, etc.  Those who are California based fishermen will have to wait it out or begin maintenance projects which were not dealt with between January and the April 1 opener. 

While I would much prefer there to be squid around in vast supply, I am not losing any sleep over the shortage.  The weather in the Spring is typically bad.  Afternoon and evening gales in the northern islands are commonplace.  There is something to be said for being able to sleep in a bed and not have to spend numerous nights on the water.  As previously alluded too, we don’t get much off time during the season.  Typically our week ends Friday after the seiner unloads or the light boat returns to harbor.  Usually you will have laundry to do and groceries to purchase for the following week.  Other errands and sleep will get in the way of having any semblance of a meaningful social life.  I know many squid fishermen who are more tired when they leave on Sunday, than they were when they returned on Friday.

My laptop should be returned to me – hopefully – by the end of the week.  I will be able to provide more frequent postings after that. 

Wednesday, March 30 - Update

So the season is set to open up again at Midnight on Friday morning.  The price issue has yet to be resolved.  Some markets are claiming to pay $600, some are not.  I can fully appreciate the market's hesitance to offer the price without first seeing the quality of the product.  Typical for this time of the year is smaller squid - say 16 - 18 count squid.  The squid's count is how many it takes to make a pound.  I can also see the fisherman's point - we were able to fill the entire 119,000 ton quota without suffering a drop in price.  Since the fishery closed in December, the price of diesel has increased some 50% - from $2.60/gal to roughly $4.00/gal.  Demand is predicted to remain high as one unfortunate result of the Japan Earthquake was the decimation of their farming activities.  The expected consumption from the Japanese market is predicted to increase.  Time will tell....

There have been some light boats out looking around, and for the most part, there is very little to report.  Reports from Catalina, Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa.  There are reports of squid in Monterey; but those are yet to be confirmed... 

So I will be talking with the partner boat in the morning and making a plan.  Oh and my brand new laptop decided to stop working.  Good thing I purchased the Geek Squad service plan.  Because of that I should have it back in 2-4 short weeks...

A brief primer on how we catch Market Squid

The commercial take of Market Squid is generally a night-time activity.  There are certain instances where they can be harvested during day light hours; but those are generally rare.  As such, it is a two boat activity.  One of the vessels is a Light Boat.  It is equipped with upwards of 30,000 watts of lights.  An example is shown below:

These vessels are generally between 30 and 50 feet.  There are a few bigger and a few smaller.  Their main purpose is to gather a catchable quantity of squid under their lights so that the seiner can make a set.  As a general rule, a light boat will work closely with a particular seiner.  Most light boats are equipped so that they may stay out on the ocean for as long as is necessary.  More on this to follow.

The second vessel in the equation is the purse seiner.  A purse seiner is called such because along the bottom are a number of rings. A rope passes through all the rings, and when pulled, draws the rings close to one another, preventing the fish from "sounding", or swimming down to escape the net.  An example is shown below:

The typical squid seiner will hatch somewhere between 50 and 80 tons.  There are some which hold more and some which can hold less. 

The typical fishing day depends on a number of factors.  For instance:  (1) If there has been any daytime fish, (2) Time the seiner is through unloading, (3) Location of fishing activities, and (4) Day of the week.  As a preliminary matter, the fishery operates Sunday through Thursday nights.  Fishing activities out of Monterey will begin later in the evening on Sundays, while in most other places we are allowed to begin fishing on Sunday afternoons.  There are certain areas, east of China Point at Catalina Island, where we are not allowed to perform any fishing activities before the sun has set.  For now, let us assume we are not fishing in any of those areas.  As a general rule, the light boat will leave before the seiner.  They will have spoken over the weekend and decided where they want to start looking and plan to meet there at a set time.  If fishing is tough and a light boat happens to be on a nesting area, he will likely have "camped out" over the weekend in order to hold his spot.  Squid tend to spawn in certain areas we call nests.  The squid, for some reason, will return to the same place over and over until that particular group is spawned out.  It isnt uncommon for a light boat to remain on a productive nest for weeks, if not months, at a time in order to hold on to the productive spot.  In such a scenario, the seiner will bring out supplies and fuel for his light boat.  Regardless, the seiner will likely try to get to the desired destination before the sunsets.  If they are able to locate fish prior to dark, the seiner will make a daytime set.  See below for an example of a nice daytime haul from December, 2010. 

This past year, most of the participating seiners were on a nightly limit.  Depending on which market you fished for that limit ran between 20 tons to upwards of 80 tons.  This was all dependent on the number of seiners fishing for a particular market and that market's ability to process the fish which was being delivered.  In certain instances, the markets would not have orders for certain seiners or they would stagger the unloading times which ended up keeping some vessels under the pump (unloading) til midnight or 2AM - effectually keeping them in for the night.

So assuming the seiner hadn't caught their limit by the time it was dark, the light boat would turn on its lights.  If things were slow to develop, the seiner might anchor up right next to their light boat and turn its lights on as well.  Eventually, when enough squid had gathered under the lights, the seiner would pull its anchor, turn off its lights and get into position.  Using radio frequencies, satellite telephone dispatches, or cell phones - the light boat and the seiner would tell each other what they saw.  The seiner will typically slowly circle the light boat in order to try and get a better picture of what is around him and how to best deploy his net in order to maximize the number of tons caught.  This past year, there were a number of times when the fish would not be right next to the light boat and the seiner had to account for that when making the set.  Once a plan has been formulated, the seiner will get into position.  As the seiner gets into position, the light boat will being to slowly pull up on the anchor's scope so as to prevent the net hanging on either the anchor or the chain.  The exact position is dependent on the direction of and amount of wind as well as the speed and direction of the prevailing current.  This is crucial, especially when fishing in water that is deeper than the depth of the bag.  As the seiner lets go of the skiff, the light boat will begin to pull its anchor.   As the seiner circles the light boat it is the responsibility of the light boat to keep an eye on the squid using his sonar and fathometer.  It is imperative that the light boat pay attention to what the squid are doing.  The savvy light boat operator can keep a school inside the net when a less experienced operator would watch as the school swam out.  The person driving the skiff - skiff man - is responsible for keeping an eye on the seiner and keeping the front-end of the net tight.  They aren't so much pulling the net as they are holding it in place.  Once the seiner has met up with the skiff, the skiff man will pass the front-end to the crew on the seiner.  He will then, carefully, drive over the net and grab the tow-line from the seiner.  The tow-line is a strong line, typically made from spectra, which is attached to the seiner - usually by a bridle.  This allows the skiff man some flexibility in terms of how to best maneuver the seiner under the varied situations they may encounter - bad weather, crowds and unforeseen difficulties.  The net is then pulled in on the power block so that the purse line can be reached.  Once the end of the purse line has been secured, the bottom of the net is closed. 

In the meantime, the light boat remains inside the net.  Once the purse line has been pulled beneath the light boat, the operator of the light boat will slowly work his way towards the edge of the net furthest away from the seiner.  The exact position of the light boat will depend on where the fish are in the net and the particular seiner in question.  Certain drum seiners (those who pull their nets with a large drum) prefer the light boat to remain more towards the bow while in the net.  This lessens the weight on the net where it is being pulled aboard the seiner.  Once the bottom of the net is closed as is indicated by the rings coming out of the water, the light boat will drive out of the net and return to the spot they pulled their anchor from.  Once the rings are out of the water, the seiner will begin to pull in the net.  The skiffman will generally pull the seiner in such a way that minimizes the drag created by pulling in the net - thus lessening the amount of pressure on the power block or drum.  Once the net is along side, the crew of the seiner will work to create a bag.  See the daytime picture above.  Once the bag has been created, a pump is lowered into the net and the squid are pumped from the bag through a separator and into a refrigerated hold.  This is done repeatedly until the seiner either: (1) catches his limit, (2) fills the boat, (3) timing dictates they return to port, or (4) experiences a mechanical problem and has to return to port. 

Once back in port, the seiner will wait until it is their turn to unload.  The squid are pumped off the boat like they were pumped on.  The fresh squid are put into bins along with ice and water.  They are then shipped to the processing plant where they are packaged and sold.  Depending on the day and the time, the seiner will either have a few hours for the crew to perform maintenance, go shopping or have some downtime; or they will leave the processor and return to sea for another night's fishing.

The new season is upon us - or is it?

December 17, 2010 - the day the 2010-2011 market squid fishery shut down until April 1, 2011.  Seems the commercial squid fleet met the 119,000 metric ton quota established by the California Department of Fish and Game.  This was a first.  When we last fished, there was an overabundance of market squid (Loligo opalescens).  Now - it seems said biomass has vacated the premises, at least in the Southern California fishery area.  There are reports of some fish in the Northern California region - namely Monterey, Santa Cruz and points south.

More pressing is the current state of the market.  Seems some of the processors are willing to increase the price to $600/ton while others are standing pat at $500/ton.  There has been a consensus amongst the fishery participants that unless and until at least five processors are willing to pay $600/ton none of the participants will fish.  What we like to call a strike in layman's parlance.  As I write this, it is unknown how many processors are willing to pay the requested price.  I have received assurances from the market we fish for that we will get the price.  As always, it will be interesting to see what transpires.  The last time there was a work stoppage in the fishery was the Fall of 2009.  At that time the processors dropped the price from $700/ton to $500/ton.  We all agreed not to fish until we received assurances that the price would remain $500/ton for the remainder of the season.  The processors agreed and we returned fishing after a 1-day hiatus.  That was the exception, not the rule.  Historically, strikes involving the commercial squid fleet never work.  There is always someone who is willing to deliver at a price the market wants.  Until we, as a group, pull our collective head's out of our asses, the results of such work stoppages will remain tenuous at best.

So here we sit.  The season opens next Thursday night.  Light Boats and Seiners are geared up and ready to go.  Where and when remains to be seen.  I could bore you with reports of what has been seen, what hasnt been seen and where; but until the season officially begins - what does it really matter?

It is my intent to provide daily updates highlighting what we see, what we catch and other information/opinions/gripes/etc that arise as we move along in our quest for the not so deadliest catch.  Feel free to ask questions, suggest topics and anything else that you may like to see/read.  I plan to supplement these writings with pictures - and hopefully videos.  Just so I know I can - here is a picture taken at Catalina Island a year or two ago...  If I am not mistaken, the seiner in the set is the Endeavor.