Board Delays Action on Squid Harvesting

Ventura County supervisors said Tuesday they want more information about the amount of squid being harvested along the coast before urging Gov. Pete Wilson to take emergency regulatory action to protect squid against overfishing.

The Ventura County Fish and Game Commission requested that the board lobby Wilson to take action because of concerns that overfishing of squid has reached a crisis stage. The commission wants Wilson and the supervisors to support state legislation that would impose boat and tonnage limits on commercial fisherman.

In 1995, 155 million pounds of squid were caught off the California coast, with about 70% of that coming from along the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, officials said.

“This is a $21-million industry in the state and about two-thirds of that comes from Ventura County landings,” said Jeff Alexander, a member of the county’s Fish and Game Commission. If squid harvesting is not managed or regulated, eventually all commercial fisherman could be hurt, he said.

Alexander told supervisors Tuesday that the commission also wants the state to charge squid fisherman a fee to pay for conducting a biological study to determine how best to regulate harvesting in the future. The commission also wants to set an annual allowable tonnage of squid that can be caught.

Supervisor John K. Flynn said he believes there is a problem with overfishing but wants to gather more information before taking any local action. The board directed its staff to study the legislation and report back in two weeks.