Squid Fishermen Still Suffering From Wounds Inflicted by El Nino

With lights so bright they beat back the night, a dozen lamp boats anchored off Anacapa Island point their halogen beams into the black sea to draw up the schools of squid. Nearby, the engines of the purse seiners idle as their captains wait to scoop them up with thousand-foot nets.

A fathom below, thousands of the slick-skinned mollusks rush through the water like little torpedoes, squirting out clouds of ink as the nets close and the fishermen haul in the catch.

A good run like this has been a long time coming, but some say it’s still not enough.

With the season quickly drawing to a close, many fishermen believe it’s too late to nurse back to health an industry still suffering from last year’s El Nino.

“It’s gotten a little better over the past couple of weeks, but the season’s been pretty rough altogether,” said Oxnard squid fisherman Neil Guglielmo, who spent most nights last week trawling the waters off the Channel Islands. “What we’re seeing out there now isn’t what we were seeing two years ago. . . . It’s really not even anything close.”

Two years ago was the fishery’s best season ever, when 104,000 tons of squid were pulled from Southern California waters, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.

With the 1998-99 season about to end, the region’s total squid catch is a mere 9,400 tons--less than 10% of the record-setting haul of 1996-97.

For fishermen such as Richard George, captain of the Anthony G, another scant season means another year spent counting every cent, cutting corners and stretching every dollar.

“You talk to anybody out there and they’re singing the blues,” George said. “We’re catching a little here and a little there, but what’s that going to get us? . . . A lot of the guys out there have already lost too much.”

Compounding the problem, some fishermen say, are state plans to regulate the fishery, enlarge the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary and prohibit trawlers from harvesting the waters.

And some complain they are again finding it difficult to secure loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which last year extended disaster-relief eligibility to California fishermen.

“It’s getting harder and harder to keep your head up these days,” said Mike McLenaghan, a Seattle-based fishermen who harvests squid from the Ventura County area. “For a guy like me, this business isn’t so much about fishing as it is about fighting. . . . Fighting the weather, fighting the government, fighting each other.”

The waters off California are home to the nation’s fourth-largest commercial fishing industry, now worth more than $800 million, according to the Santa Barbara-based California Seafood Council.

Yet it is an industry that has gone through profound and often painful changes over its 150-year history.

Where once sardines and tuna comprised the bulk of the industry’s success, squid fishing has become an increasingly important component to the industry’s overall success.

Stoked by relaxed trade barriers in such countries as China, Japan and Korea, the squid business flourished during the late 1980s and early 1990s and quickly became the most lucrative fishery in the country, generating nearly $100 million in 1996.

That rocketing success, however, came to a grinding halt after warm El Nino-warmed waters chased the temperature-sensitive squid population to cooler waters farther out to sea and left the 250-boat fleet tied to their moorings.

As a result, the squid harvest plummeted from more than 100,000 tons to just 450 tons last year.

“The loss was amazing. . . . The fishery just completely disappeared,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the San Francisco-based Pacific Coast Federation of Commercial Fishermen’s Assns.

“And because of that we had an economic disaster in every sense of the word,” Grader said.

Some struggling squid fishermen sold cars, and others hocked personal possessions to make boat and house payments.

Some took wage positions at mainland businesses such as Home Depot. Others gave up entirely.

A few turned to the Small Business Administration in hopes of securing low-interest disaster loans that would tide them over until the fishery regained strength. Of the 134 applications received during that period, however, 72% were rejected because SBA auditors concluded they didn’t meet minimum repayment qualifications.

Faced with similar struggles this year, a few seiners have turned again to the SBA for help, and for some it has been easier.

Grader said for the most part SBA auditors have realized that fisheries damaged by climatic events often take years to rebound, and in response have extended eligibility for qualified fishermen.

But it is still a difficult process that can often take months to complete.

According to the SBA, 368 fishermen--comprising all types statewide--applied for disaster relief loans this year. Of that, 142 have been approved, for a total of about $9 million in financial aid.

“We’ve really been trying to work with these people to get them the kind of assistance they need,” said Herb Johnston, spokesman for the SBA’s Sacramento office. “We understand that the kind of disaster they’ve had isn’t going to repair itself in a year.”

Even if the squid do return, fishermen are unsure whether they will be able to tap the resource due to increased regulation expected in coming years.

Fish and Game biologists recently began a federally mandated study of squid that will be used to devise a plan to manage the fishery.

According to department officials, management could assume any number of forms. But they said it will be balanced to allow fishermen to make a living while preserving the squid population.

“I certainly understand their concerns, but we’re not trying to put anybody out of business. . . . That’s not our goal,” said Marci Yaremko, the state biologist who is heading the study. “This is about maintaining the fishery so that the business itself and the resource can survive.”

She said while a management plan is still a long way off, quotas or the closing of fishing grounds could be imposed during some days to give squid a chance to spawn.