High seas fisheries: the Achilles' heel of major straddling squid resources

摘要

Two nektonic squid species, Illex argentinus in the Southwest Atlantic and Dosidicus gigas in the Eastern Pacific, are amongst the largest commercial cephalopod resources; presently comprising from one third to almost one half of the global cephalopod catch. These squids are straddling stocks exploited during their ontogenetic migrations both within exclusive economic zones of coastal States and in adjacent high seas. At present, fisheries of these squids lack an agreement to undertake comprehensive international stock assessments and management, resulting in minimal data exchanges among coastal States and those fishing in the high seas. In the high seas, there is little to no regulation and control of fishing activities, with very limited information on catch and effort. However, the high seas have been very important for commercial exploitation of both species, with annual averages of 45% of the total I. argentinus catch and 30-40% of the total D. gigas catch over the last decade. With uncontrolled harvest in the high seas, and without any unified international regulation, these straddling squid resources are highly vulnerable to overfishing; especially during years of poor recruitment and low abundance. Recent dramatic increases of fishing pressure pose a significant threat to the sustainability of these globally important squid resources. A proposal to reduce the risk of squid stocks depletion would be the establishment of a multi-national advisory forum to explicitly monitor stocks, coordinate assessment of population dynamics, and provide management recommendations for cephalopod fisheries around the world.